


Prince Eric

by Qs_Elephant



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Eric-Centric, Fluff, Maknae fluff, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 30,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23622331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qs_Elephant/pseuds/Qs_Elephant
Summary: The Boyz love to spoil their maknae. (Stories of The Boyz taking care of and babying Eric.)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 141





	1. Eric's Easter

Eric enters Sangyeon and Jacob's room looking sad. He cuddles up next to Jacob, who is reading a book in bed. Eric lays his head on Jacob's chest and holds onto him tightly. 

"You sure are cuddly today. Are these happy or sad cuddles?" 

"Sad." Eric answers. 

"What's wrong, squishy?" Jacob asks, putting his book down. 

"Easter is coming up and I miss the days when I used to celebrate it back home with my family. It makes me feel sad and lonely." Eric explains. 

"What did you used to do for Easter?"

"Go on an egg hunt and get candy." 

Jacob thinks for a moment and realizes they are not busy on Easter. 

"Tell you what, how about we have an egg hunt here?"

"Really?!"

"Yeah."

"That would be great!" Eric replies, hugging Jacob tightly. 

"These are happy cuddles now." Eric adds.

On Saturday night, the boys organize Eric's Easter event. They put eggs in closets, cabinets, and under the couch cushions. There is just one more thing that needs to be done, and that is to switch Eric's teddy bear with a bunny. 

"Jacob, do we really need to wear these ski masks?" Kevin asks, as they enter Eric's room. 

"Yes, what if Eric wakes up? It would ruin the magic."

"So you want him to think robbers came into his room at night instead?"

"No. He will think we are shadows since it is so dark in here." Jacob responds. 

Jacob carefully removes Mr. Cuddlesworth from Eric's arms, Kevin hands him the bunny and Jacob carefully slips it into Eric's arms. 

"Okay, let's go." Jacob whispers to Kevin, before they both sneak out of the room. 

The next morning, Eric wakes up with a stuffed bunny in his arms that is holding a note. Eric unrolls the note, which reads:

"Dear Eric,

Happy Easter! I hopped all the way to your dorm to see you and give you some gifts. I placed ten eggs around the house. If you locate all of them and go to your practice room, I will come to live and give you a special gift! Just make sure that when you go to the practice room, that you put the basket of eggs in the middle of the room and count to thirty with your eyes closed.

-Hope to see you soon! From, The Easter Bunny"

Eric excitedly runs to the breakfast table to tell everyone about this.

"Hyungs! Hyungs! The Easter Bunny is here!" Eric says, showing everyone the stuffed bunny. 

"He says if I find eggs and take them to the practice room, then he will come to life and give me a gift." Eric adds. 

"That's nice. You can start your search right after breakfast." Juyeon says, handing Eric his breakfast. 

"Eric, will you hand me an egg from the fridge?" Sangyeon asks. 

Eric goes into the fridge and opens up the egg carton, where he finds his first egg. 

"I found an egg!"

He takes it out and hands Sangyeon a regular egg. 

So, the search continues after breakfast. 

Eric finds eggs in his closet, in kitchen cabinets, under the couch cushions, and under his pillow. 

After collecting all of the eggs, he goes to the practice room like the note told him to. The note also said that Eric has to put the basket in the middle of the room and count to thirty, so does that and closes his eyes. 

"28...29....30."

Eric opens his eyes and sees a life-sized bunny holding an Easter basket full of candy and small toys. 

"Hello, Eric." The bunny says, waving at him. 

"Hi. I found all of your eggs. Thank you for the egg hunt, it was a lot of fun."

"Thank you for finding my eggs. This is your reward for doing such a good job."

The bunny hands Eric the basket. 

"Wow! Thank you." Eric says, before hugging the bunny. 

"Happy Easter, squishy." 

"Changmin hyung?"

Q takes off the costume so Eric can confirm it is him. 

"Yeah, it's me."

"You're the one that did this?"

"All of us did, but it was Jacob's idea in the first place to have an egg hunt for you." 

"I have to thank him then." 

"He's in the room across the hall if you want to go see him." 

Eric does just that, immediately running up to Jacob and thanking him. Due to Jacob, Eric got to have a great Easter. 


	2. Missing Maknae

"Okay munchkins, time to go shopping." Jacob announces, as he enters the living room where the maknaes are playing video games. 

"Why?" Eric whines. 

"Because you boys ruined your shoes with mud yesterday, so we have to get new ones now."

Eric remembers yesterday, but only how much fun he had, no that some shoes got wrecked. 

\-- Yesterday --

"Splashing in puddles is fun, but I wonder what splashing in the mud is like." Eric suggests, eyeing a large puddle right next to them. 

"Oh! Let's go see!" Haknyeon exclaims, running over to the mud and jumping in. 

Sunwoo and Eric follow, all of them are now jumping in the puddle of mud. It is very easy at first, but it eventually gets hard and they soon become stuck. 

"Uh oh. What do we do know?"

"Help! Help!" They scream. 

Kevin, who is sitting nearby reading a book, runs over to them. 

"What's wrong guys?"

"We're stuck in the mud." 

"Will you help us?" Eric pouts. 

Kevin tries to pull them out, but just does not have the strength. 

"Don't worry, I'll go get Sangyeon, Juyeon, and Jaehyun." Kevin says, before running to the basketball court. 

A couple minutes later, the three of them come over and pull the maknaes out, but their shoes are left behind in the mud. 

"Well, I think now is a good time to go home. I don't want you boys running around with no shoes on in the park."

All three of them are piggy-backed home.

\-- Present --

"Oh, yeah I remember that."

"Exactly, now let's go." 

Jacob and Sangyeon walk the three of them to the mall and enter the shoe store. Eric is the first to try on shoes and he ends up picking some blue sneakers. He gets bored watching the other two maknaes try on shoes, so he decides to check out some other stores. Specifically, the toy store. 

"The hyungs won't mind if I leave for just a second." Eric thinks. 

Eric leaves the shoe store while the others continue to try on shoes. He goes to the toy store and immediately heads over to the section with the video games so that he can play the demos. 

Back at the shoe store, the boys have finally picked and purchased their new shoes. 

"Okay, now that you all have new shoes, try not to mess them up again." Sangyeon says, as they walk out the store. 

"Wait. Where is Eric?" Haknyeon brings up. 

Jacob looks around. 

"Oh my gosh, we lost Eric! We have to find him, what if he got abducted!" Jacob panics. 

"Jakey, calm down. Let's split up and look for him. We'll all meet here again after an hour." 

"Okay."

The four of them split up and search the mall for Eric. They check clothing stores, the food court, and the candy store. An hour later, nobody has found Eric yet. 

"Guys, where could he be?" Jacob questions. 

"I don't know. We looked everywhere, didn't we?" 

"What about the toy store? Did anyone look there?" Sunwoo asks. 

Back at the toy store, Eric finds something amazing. 

"They have a ball pit!" Eric exclaims, before jumping in. 

The boys eventually find Eric sitting in the ball pit. 

"Eric, there you are."

"Hi hyungs." He replies. 

"Eric, come out. It's time to go." Sangyeon tells him. 

"Already?"

"Yeah, now come on. We've already wasted an extra hour here." Sunwoo complains. 

Eric climbs out of the ball pit and goes over to the boys. 

"Can we get ice cream?" Eric asks, as they exit the store. 

"After what you did? No." Sangyeon answers. 

"But you can each get one gumball from the candy dispenser." Jacob says, handing each of the maknaes a quarter. 

The three of them get their gumballs and Eric is scolded the whole way home. To him, it is worth it though, because he got to play video games and go in a ball pit. 


	3. Emergency

"Eric, wake up. We have to go to practice soon." Jacob says, lightly shaking Eric. 

Eric just groans in response, he does not feel like getting up right now. 

"Come on, babykins. We have to get going, breakfast is ready." Jacob adds, tapping Eric's cheeks. 

"Fine." Eric replies, slowly getting up. 

At practice, Eric feels completely drained. All he wants to do is rest. 

"Eric, you seem so tired today." Changmin mentions during a break. 

"Yeah. Where is our little squishy's usual high energy?" Juyeon asks. 

"I don't know. I have been so tired since this morning." 

Jacob goes over to Eric and feels his forehead. 

"Well, you are a little warm, but that might just be from dancing. Is anything else wrong?"

"No, just exhausted." 

"Well, practice is almost over. Just rest until it is time to go." Changmin advises. 

"And when we get home, go right to bed." Jacob adds. 

Eric nods and sits in the corner with his jacket laying over him like a blanket. He watches the boys practice while he rests. When they get back to the dorm, Eric sleeps until dinnertime. 

"Here munchkin, I made you some soup to help you feel better." Jacob says, setting a bowl of soup in front of Eric. 

"Thank you." Eric replies. 

Eric wants to eat, but it makes his stomach hurt, so he only eats half of his meal. 

Later that night, Eric throws up and his stomach feels upset. 

The next morning, Eric does not want to eat at all because of how bad his stomach feels. This causes him to pick at his breakfast and not really eat anything. Of course, the others notice this and ask what is going on. 

"Eric, you haven't touched your breakfast at all. Do you still feel sick?"

"Yeah, my stomach hurts and it gets worse when I eat. I threw up last night too."

"Here, just make sure you drink water from now on if it hurts to eat. We don't want you getting dehydrated. We'll take you to the doctor tomorrow and see what's wrong." Jaehyun says, handing Eric some water. 

Eric just drinks water, but even that he throws up. He throws up after breakfast, after lunch, and at practice. They decide to send him home and have Chanhee go with him to watch over him. 

"Eric, you need to make sure you keep drinking water. You've been throwing up so much." Chanhee says, giving Eric his glass of water. 

Eric takes a few sips, but abruptly stops. 

"What's wrong?"

"Hyung, I think I'm gonna be sick again." 

Chanhee immediately helps Eric sit up and places the bucket in front of him so he can vomit into it. As Eric is throwing up, Chanhee tries to soothe him by rubbing his back. 

"Better?" Chanhee asks, when Eric is finished.

Eric nods before drinking some water and laying back down. 

Back at the company, the boys are talking about Eric.

"I wonder what's wrong. He has been throwing up so much." 

"Whatever it is, I just hope he gets well soon."

"Well, I'm taking him to a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, so hopefully we will know what is wrong by then." Sangyeon says. 

Later that day, Eric starts to feel better. At dinner, he actually takes a few bites of food and doesn't throw up for the rest of the day. However, things take a turn for the worst at night. 

Eric wakes up in the middle of the night due to a strong wave of nausea. He needs to throw up now, so he immediately runs to the bathroom and throws up. After throwing up for the third time, Eric hears a knock at the door. 

"Eric? Are you alright, munchkin?" Jacob asks, as he slowly opens the bathroom door. 

Jacob fully opens the door to see Eric clenching his stomach and groaning. 

"Hyung, it hurts." Eric cries. 

Jacob runs over to Eric and rubs his back while telling him it will be okay to calm him down. 

"What's going on?" Sangyeon asks, walking into the bathroom after hearing Eric's cries. 

Jacob explains that Eric is throwing up and has stomach pain. Suddenly, Eric leans back over the toilet to throw up. This time it sounds painful, like Eric is having trouble bringing it up. Jacob pats his back to help, and Eric lays on the floor when he is done. Jacob now sees what the problem is, Eric has thrown up blood. 

"Oh my gosh. Sangyeon, call an ambulance! Eric just threw up blood." 

Sangyeon rushes to the phone and dials emergency services. Jacob stays with Eric and tries to calm him down. He wraps his arms around Eric and strokes his hair gently. 

"Hyung, it hurts so much. Please make it stop." Eric says, with tears streaming down his face. 

Seeing his maknae be in so much pain breaks Jacob's heart, but the most he can do for Eric right now is to calm him. 

"It's alright, Sangyeon hyung is calling for help. You'll feel better in no time." Jacob tells him, placing a kiss on his forehead. 

After Sangyeon calls, the three of them go downstairs to wait for the ambulance. The workers take Eric while Sangyeon and Jacob follow right behind them to the hospital. 

Sangyeon and Jacob sit in the waiting room while Eric is taken to the emergency room. Jacob held it together back at home, but it is a different story at the hospital. He is crying into Sangyeon's chest as he holds onto him. 

"Jacob, it's alright. Eric is going to be okay." 

"I hope so. It was so horrible seeing him be in such pain like that. He's a precious little angel, I don't want anything bad to happen to him." Jacob responds. 

"I know, he's our little maknae. He is also a very strong maknae, I know he will make it through this." 

Sometime later, a man comes to inform Sangyeon and Jacob about Eric's condition. They learn that he has a bleeding stomach ulcer that will need to be removed. Jacob is relieved to hear this information, and the two of them stay in the waiting room while Eric is treated. 

Back at the dorm, the rest of the boys are waking up since it is now early morning. Once everyone is at the table, they notice that three members are missing. 

"Where's Sangyeon and Jacob? They are usually up by now."

"Eric is missing too." Chanhee adds. 

They all start to worry at this point. 

"I'll call Jacob." Kevin says. 

At the hospital, Jacob has his face buried in Sangyeon's chest, when his phone rings. 

"Sangyeon, could you answer that? I don't feel like getting it right now."

"Sure."

Sangyeon takes the phone out of Jacob's pocket and answers it.

"Hello."

"Hyung? Are you with Jacob and Eric?"

"Where are you guys?" Sunwoo asks. 

"Is Eric okay?" Juyeon chimes in. 

"Is he still sick?" Younghoon questions. 

"Guys, calm down. Eric is alright, he has a stomach ulcer and they are removing it right now."

"So he will be okay?"

"Yes, we will call you guys when they are finished with him."

"Okay, bye." 

Sangyeon tells them bye and hangs up the phone before going back to comforting Jacob. 

Several minutes later, a doctor comes to tell them that the ulcer has been removed and that they can go see Eric. The two of them pretty much run to the room. They enter to see Eric laying in bed with his eyes closed, Jacob quietly rushes over to him. 

"Eric. Are you awake, squishy?"

Eric slowly opens his eyes to see Jacob and Sangyeon smiling on both sides of him. 

"Hyungs? Where am I?"

"You're at the hospital." Jacob answers. 

"Do you remember anything that happened last night?" Sangyeon asks. 

"I woke up with a really bad stomach ache last night and I threw up. Then you guys called the ambulance and I can't remember after that."

Sangyeon explains to Eric that he just had a bleeding ulcer removed from his stomach. 

"Do you feel better?" Jacob questions. 

"Yeah, my stomach finally stopped hurting and I don't feel like throwing up. I'm just a little tired now." Eric replies. 

"Well, they said the medicine might make you groggy and you were up last night."

"Just get your rest." Jacob adds. 

Sangyeon then calls the others and they show up about half an hour later. 

"Eric, look who is here." Jacob says, once the boys enter the room. 

"Hyungs." Eric greets them tiredly, eyes mostly closed. 

"He's still a little sleepy from the medicine." Jacob states. 

"Eric, we're so glad you are okay." Jaehyun says. 

"We got you a little get well gift." Haknyeon announces, handing Eric a teddy bear that is dressed like a doctor. 

Eric loves teddy bears, so he thanks them before taking the bear and hugging it closely. 

"You love that bear, don't you?" Jacob smiles, stroking Eric's hair. 

"How long until he can come home?"

"Tomorrow. The doctors just want to keep him today to make sure everything is alright."

They talk for a little while longer before deciding to leave so Eric can get some rest.

"Eric, we're going now. Make sure you get lots of rest, okay kiddo? We'll be back tomorrow to take you home." Sangyeon says. 

As the ten of them are leaving, Eric calls out to Juyeon. 

"Is something wrong?" Juyeon asks.

"I'm scared."

"What do you mean?" Juyeon responds. 

"I'm afraid of staying here until tomorrow. I've never gone to sleep without you guys around." 

"Don't worry, Dr. Bear will keep you company. You'll be fine." 

"You sure?"

"I'm sure. If you feel scared, just hug your bear and it will be like you are hugging all of us."

"Alright." Eric smiles. 

"Good. See you tomorrow, squishy." Juyeon replies, ruffling Eric's hair before leaving the room. 

Thanks to Juyeon's encouragement, Eric is able to feel comfortable while sleeping in the hospital that night. He cuddles his bear for most of his time there.

The next morning Juyeon, Jacob, and Sangyeon show up to get Eric. When they open the door, they notice that Eric's demeanor is different from yesterday. He is wide awake and energetic. He is starting to get back to his old self again. 

"Hyungies!" Eric exclaims. 

"Well good morning to you too, chum chum. You seem to have your energy back." Jacob points out, pinching Eric's cheek.

"Yeah, I feel so much better. I feel like myself again."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. Thanks to Dr. Bear." 

"That's good. We can take you home now. Are you ready to go?" Sangyeon responds. 

"More than ready." 

During the ride home, Eric chatters on about his stay at the hospital. Talking about the food, the television shows, and anything else he can remember. Yup, their maknae is back. 


	4. After School

"Look who's back. Hey, kiddo." Sangyeon says, as Eric enters the dorm. 

"Hi, hyung." Eric replies. 

"Eric, are you ready for your after school snack?" Jacob asks. 

Eric nods and follows Jacob to the kitchen. The two of them sit down at the table together. 

"Here are your chocolate chip cookies and some milk. Your socks and blanket are almost done in the dryer, so they should be ready in time for your nap."

Jacob listens to Eric talk about his day at school while he eats his cookies. 

When he is done eating, the dryer beeps. Jacob gets Eric's stuff before meeting him in his room. Eric puts on his socks and lays down in bed as Jacob puts the blanket over him. 

"Have a nice nap, gummy bear."

After drinking warm milk, wearing warm socks, and having a warm blanket, Eric falls asleep with ease. 

When he wakes up, he starts to do his homework. While doing his science homework, he needs help, so he goes to Sangyeon and Jaehyun for help. Thanks to them, he finishes in less than an hour. After doing all that homework, Eric decides that he needs cuddles, so he goes to one of his favorite places for them. 

"Younghoon hyung?" Eric says, stepping into Younghoon's room. 

"Yeah?"

"Are you busy?"

"No. Why, do you need some cuddles?" Younghoon replies, putting his phone down.

"Please?"

"Come here, squishy." Younghoon says, patting a spot on the bed. 

Eric lays next to Younghoon and he wraps his arms around Eric from behind. Eric loves cuddles from Younghoon. Younghoon is so much taller than Eric, so he feels like he is surrounded by warmth and care when he is with him. 

"Wanna watch some cute videos?" Younghoon asks, handing Eric his phone. 

"Yeah!" Eric answers, accepting the phone. 

The two of them watch puppy videos together until dinner. 

"Guys, dinner is ready." Juyeon tells them. 

Eric hands Younghoon his phone and thanks him for the cuddles before going over to Juyeon. He latches onto Juyeon's arm and follows him to the kitchen. 

After dinner, Eric goes to Changmin for his dance lesson. Eric has been having some trouble with their latest dance routine, so he asked Changmin for help. 

"Then you put your hand up like this." Changmin demonstrates.

Eric follows. 

"And your other hand at an angle like this."

Changmin thinks that Eric doesn't have it exactly right, so he readjusts for him. 

"Now, left foot, right foot, and then left again. Then you spin." 

Eric tries, but messes up the spin. He almost falls, but Changmin catches him. 

"That was really good, you almost got it. Why don't we try one more time?"

This time, Eric gets it right. 

"Good job, chum chum. That was perfect." Changmin says, hugging him. 

"Eric, wanna play some video games?" Haknyeon asks, after he runs into the room. 

Eric turns to Changmin for approval. 

"You can go. We'll end it here for today." 

"Thanks." Eric says, before running off with Haknyeon to the living room. 

Eric, Sunwoo, and Haknyeon play M & M's kart racing together until it is time to start getting ready for bed. 

"Maknaes, it's time to start getting ready for bed." Kevin tells them, entering the living room. 

"But hyung, I'm winning. We can't stop now."

"Fine. Finish this race and start getting ready for bed. Promise?"

They all just nod, too focused on the game to verbally respond. The maknaes do end up keeping their promise and stop after the race is done. 

Eric is always the last one in the bathroom to get ready for bed. They always go in age order unless they have a reason not to. Going last is not bad at all for Eric, because Chanhee draws his bubble bathes for him most of the time. 

"Eric, your bath is ready." Chanhee announces, walking into their shared room with Eric's bathrobe and towel. 

Eric thanks him and goes to the bathroom to enjoy his vanilla scented bubble bath. 

After bath time and brushing his teeth, Eric is now ready for bed. Sangyeon and Jacob tuck him in, making sure he has his teddy bear and is comfy. 

"Do you need anything else?" Jacob asks, pulling Eric's blanket up to his chin. 

Eric shakes his head. 

"Alright."

"Good night, squishy." The two of them say, kissing both of Eric's cheeks. 


	5. Picky Ricky

Eric loves ramen, it is his favorite food. He would eat it forever if he could. 

One day, he thinks to himself "Why don't I? I could eat this stuff all the time.", and from that point on he decides to only eat ramen. He eats it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Nobody really notices this or has an issue with this until they all have dinner together and Eric refuses to eat anything else. 

"No!" Eric whines, as they try to get him to eat some vegetables. 

"Eric, you have to eat more than just ramen." 

"Why? That's all I've been eating for three days now. It's yummy." Eric replies. 

"Three days?! You have to eat now." Younghoon says, filling Eric's plate with vegetables and meats. 

"But hyu-"

"No buts. I know that we spoil you a lot, but eating a balanced diet is important, so you are going to eat that food on your plate. No noodles." Sangyeon interrupts. 

Eric crosses his arms and pouts. 

"You can pout all you want, but you are going to sit here until you finish your dinner." Sangyeon tells him. 

So, Eric does just that. He sits at the kitchen table until bedtime. 

"Eric, start getting ready for bed." Jacob says, giving up. 

At breakfast the next morning, the boys try to get Eric to eat something else. 

"Come on, Eric. Put down the ramen and have some yummy cereal." Jacob suggests. 

"No thanks."

"How about some eggs?" Haknyeon asks. 

Eric shakes his head. 

"Toast?"

"Uh-uh."

"I can make pancakes for you. I know how much you love pancakes." Kevin offers. 

"Yeah, but not as much as I love ramen."

At this point, the boys really do not know what to do to get Eric to expand his diet. After a couple more days, they finally come up with a plan. They are going to take drastic measures and scare Eric into eating other foods by telling him a made up story. 

Eric comes back from school and finds everyone crying and looking sad in the living room. 

"What's wrong guys?" Eric questions. 

"W- We're worried about you."

"Why?"

"We just saw a story on the news about a boy who only ate ramen for weeks. His stomach shrunk and then he couldn't eat anything ever again, so he starved." Juyeon explains. 

"We don't want that to happen to you." 

"What?!" Eric responds, shocked.

"Eric, eating a variety of foods is important to keep your body healthy. Different foods have different kinds of nutrients that you need. Please, will you go back to eating like you normally do and not just eat one thing?" Jacob says. 

"Well, okay. I was getting sick of ramen anyway." 

Thankfully, the boys really did scare Eric into eating like usual again and he goes back to eating more than just ramen. 


	6. Science Fair

As Eric is walking home from school with Jacob and Sangyeon one afternoon, he brings up the science project he has to do. 

"What are you thinking about doing?"

"I don't know. I've been trying to think of something all day, but I can't come up with anything. 

"How about you built a volcano? I did that for my project when I was your age and I won the science fair." Sangyeon suggests. 

"That sounds like so much fun. Can we make it erupt?" Eric responds. 

"Of course we can." 

"Now I have an idea, but I have to write an essay about volcanoes then." Eric says. 

"I can help you, kiddo." Sangyeon offers. 

"Thanks hyung. I can't wait to get home and work on this with you." Eric smiles. 

"No problem. We will start looking for sources when we get home." Sangyeon replies, ruffling Eric's hair. 

They arrive home later and Eric changes into his home clothes before sitting down with Sangyeon at the kitchen table. He powers up his laptop and Sangyeon shows him some good websites to go to for sources. Eric finds and summarizes ten sources before asking Sangyeon if he can take a break. 

"Sure, you've done enough for now."

Sangyeon gets up to get some juice from the fridge and sees what Eric is doing. 

"What's that?"

"Club Penguin. I'm gonna meet Felix on here." 

"Whoa. That looks like fun." 

"You can play for a bit if you want." Eric offers, pushing the laptop towards his leader. 

Sangyeon is mesmerized by the features in the game. There are mini games, furniture to put in the penguin's house, and his favorite part.... clothes to dress the penguin up in. 

"Look at all the cute clothes the penguin can wear!" Sangyeon states happily.

A few minutes later, Eric tells Sangyeon that he has to go back on. Sangyeon hands the laptop back over and goes to his room to play. He creates his own account and goes back to being engrossed. 

During this time, Eric is chatting with Felix in the game. 

"Hey!!!!" Eric types. 

"Hey man! What are you up to?" Felix replies. 

"Working on my science project. U?"

"Me too."

"Guess what?" Eric says. 

"What?"

"I showed my hyung this game and he loves it."

"That's so cool!"

Felix makes his penguin dance in response, so Eric joins in. 

"Wanna sled race?" Eric asks.

"Race you to the hill!"

Eric opens up the map and clicks on the mountain top. When it loads, Felix is already there. 

"I win!"

"No fair, you have faster internet!" 

" :P "

"I'm gonna win sled race tho." 

"We'll see." Felix replies. 

Despite having slower internet, Eric wins. 

Eric and Felix play together until Eric decides to go back to his homework. 

As Eric is reading one of his sources, he comes across something he does not understand, so he goes to ask Sangyeon for help.

"Hyung, can you help me with something?"

"Are you injured or upset? Because hyung is a little busy right now." Sangyeon answers. 

"No."

"Then can you come back later?"

"Okay." Eric says, leaving the room and going off to ask someone else for help. 

It goes on like this for days, until Jacob finds out about it. 

Eric is putting the finishing touches on his project when Jacob enters the kitchen. 

"Hey, babykins. Are you almost done with your project?"

"Yeah, I'm just doing some small edits now." Eric replies. 

"I bet Sangyeon was a real help." 

"I wish. He is addicted to Club Penguin now. I asked him for help a few days ago and he said he was busy while he was playing the game. It's okay though, Chanhee helped me with the essay and Kevin helped me with the volcano." Eric explains. 

"I hope Sangyeon hyung comes to the project fair though. I at least want him to see what I got done. I want to know if he thinks I did a good job." He adds. 

Jacob is saddened by Eric's words, so he confronts Sangyeon. 

"Sangyeon!" Jacob says, as he storms into their shared bedroom. 

"What?"

"How could you do this to Eric?"

"What?"

"He was so excited to have you help him with this project and you did nothing."

Sangyeon just nods in response as he continues to play. 

"You have been playing this game for days now."

"And? Unless something life threatening is happening come talk to me later. Oh, there's new clothes in the catalog today!" 

Jacob sighs in disappointment and leaves the room. 

The next day, it is time for Eric's project fair at school. Sangyeon is still on the computer on such an important day, this makes Jacob beyond mad and he talks to Sangyeon again. Since Sangyeon would not listen last time, Jacob tries something different to get his attention. He throws coffee on the laptop so it turns black and he now knows Sangyeon is listening. 

"What did you do?!" Sangyeon exclaims. 

"I'm stopping this. You are playing a freaking computer game while our maknae's project fair is going on! He worked so hard on his project and he really wanted you to be there to see it. This means a lot to him. Can't you see that?" 

Sangyeon processes Jacob's words and realizes that he is right, he should be there for Eric. 

"You're right. Come on, let's go." Sangyeon says, putting his arm around Jacob as they both walk out the room. 

"I'm sorry about your laptop." 

"It was Sunwoo's laptop." Sangyeon admits. 

Jacob's eyes widen at this. Sunwoo will be very mad.

"Let's make sure to stop by the electronics store and get him a new one before he finds out." Jacob responds. 

At the project fair, Eric has just finished talking to his teacher about his project when he sees Sangyeon. 

"Hyung, you made it!" 

"How could I miss a day like this? I'm sorry I didn't help you with your project, I shouldn't have done that. It looks like you didn't need my help though, this volcano looks amazing. I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you." Eric grins, happy to now have all of his hyungs at his project fair. 


	7. Hate?

"Thanks for building this fort, Juyeon. You're the best hyung ever!" Eric says, hugging Juyeon. 

"No problem. I hope you boys enjoy it." Juyeon replies, patting Eric's head before going to his room. 

Just then, Haknyeon and Sunwoo enter the dorm. 

"Whoa, look at that fort!" Haknyeon exclaims, running over. 

Sunwoo follows him. 

"Did you build this by yourself? It is huge."

"No, Juyeon hyung built it. I helped gather blankets though." 

"Come on, let's go in."

The three of them run into the fort and sit down in a circle. 

"This fort is so cool. What should we do first?" Eric says. 

"Let's play some board games." Sunwoo suggests. 

They all agree and begin to play games together. 

The next day, Eric is playing in Changmin and Kevin's room. Changmin said he could go in there to play with his Spongebob action figures. As Eric is later putting the figures back on the shelf, he accidentally knocks down a pretty little clay vase that was on that same shelf, and it shatters on the floor. 

"Uh oh." Eric thinks. 

Right as Eric tries to clean it up, Kevin walks in. He sees what Eric has done and his eyes widen. 

"What did you do?!"

"Hyung, it was an accident." Eric says. 

"Oh sure it was. You were probably being reckless and running around crazy, then you knocked it down. How hard is it to be careful?! You know what, just get out." 

Eric leaves the room, but turns around to explain what happened. 

"But hy-"

"Save it, Eric. You always run around and cause mischief and do what you shouldn't be doing! Just.... just leave me alone already, I hate you!" Kevin says, before slamming the door in Eric's face. 

Hate? Hearing those words makes Eric's chest hurt and tears flow from his eyes. He runs to his room to hide under his blanket and cry. He doesn't know how long he cries for, but Haknyeon and Sunwoo show up at some point. 

"Eric, we've been looking all over for you." Haknyeon says, jumping on Eric's bed. 

"Why are you in here when you could be hanging out in the fort?" Sunwoo questions. 

They hear Eric sniffle and quickly ask what is wrong.

"Do you have the cold?"

"What's wrong, squishy?" Haknyeon asks. 

Haknyeon lowers the blanket and sees the tears Eric is shedding. 

"Eric, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"H-H-Hyung said that he hates me." 

"What?!"

"Which hyung?"

"Kevin hyung."

"How could he say something like that?"

"No wonder you feel so bad. Come on, let's go to the fort and talk about it. That might make you feel better." 

Eric dries his tears and follows Haknyeon and Sunwoo to their fort. Eric explains what happened and the two of them comfort him, making sure to give him lots of hugs and comforting words. What Kevin said to Eric does spread among the boys, which is why he is treated differently the next day. 

"Hey guys, what's up?" Kevin says, entering the practice room and walking up to Changmin and Chanhee. 

They just walk away and say nothing, so Kevin goes to some other members. 

"Bermuda, how's it going?"

The three of them also ignore Kevin. He is starting to wonder what is going on here. 

"Hey, Jacob. What's going on? Why is everyone acting like I'm invisible?"

"I'm not supposed to be talking to you, but we're ignoring you."

"What? Why?"

"Because we know what you said to Eric. How could you be so cruel to that sweet maknae, to my little gummy bear?" Jacob replies. 

"He broke my vase. It took me over four months to make that thing. How could I not be angry?"

Jacob shakes his head in disappointment and walks away. 

Kevin thinks that it is ridiculous that he should have to apologize to Eric. He thinks this is all Eric's fault. The others should punish Eric for his behavior. 

However, Kevin thinks things over as time goes on and the middle of the next day, he realizes that he needs to apologize. 

Eric isn't in his room, so he must be in the maknae fort. Kevin goes there to talk to Eric. 

"Maknaes, can I talk to Eric?"

All Kevin gets in return is silence. 

"I know you guys are in there."

"Eric doesn't want to talk to you. You're a meanie." Sunwoo says. 

"Yeah, go away." Haknyeon adds. 

Kevin sighs and goes to see if Juyeon can talk to them. 

"Juyeon?"

More silence. 

"Please, Juyeon. This is important, I want to talk to Eric so I can apologize."

"Oh. Well, what do you want me to do?"

"Can you go talk to them? They won't listen to me."

"Sure."

Juyeon gets up and walks out to the living room. 

"Maknaes, can hyung come in?"

"Yes." Haknyeon answers. 

Juyeon enters the fort and compliments their decorations. 

"So, why don't you guys want to let Kevin talk to Eric?"

"He is sleeping right now." Sunwoo explains, pointing to Eric on the other side of the fort.

Juyeon continues to talk to them about unrelated things for a few minutes before leaving. 

"What did they say?" Kevin asks, when Juyeon enters the room again. 

"Eric's sleeping, so he can't talk right now. Just try again later I guess."

So, that is what Kevin does. Eric is always in his room around bedtime, so that is when Kevin goes in there. Eric is getting his bed set up to go to bed when Kevin walks in. 

"Eric, can I talk to you?"

Eric nods. 

The two of them sit on the bed. Eric holds his teddy bear, Mr. Cuddlesworth, tightly. He hopes Kevin isn't here to get mad or blame him again. 

"About the other day, I'm sorry for yelling at you like that. I never should have said that I hated you. I definitely do not hate you, it is the exact opposite. I love you, you're our little maknae and we all love you. You mean a lot more to me than that vase, I never should have snapped at you over something so small. I'm really sorry." Kevin says. 

"I never want to hurt you and I hope you can forgive me." 

"I forgive you." Eric responds, after a silence. 

"I'm sorry about your vase. Is there a way to fix it?"

"I think so, but I'm gonna make a new one instead." Kevin replies. 

"I can help you, if that's okay."

"Of course you can help." Kevin tells Eric, hugging him.

Eric hugs Kevin back. 

"Okay, Eric time to-"

Jacob pauses when he sees that Kevin and Eric have worked things out. 

"It looks like you two solved things." Jacob states. 

"Yeah."

"That's good. Well, Eric, it is time for you to start getting ready to go to bed. I just came to see if you needed anything before bed." 

"No, i"m good."

"Alright. Good night, babykins." Jacob says, going up to Eric and giving him a raspberry kiss on the cheek. 

Jacob puts his cheek towards Eric and he gives his hyung a raspberry kiss back before giggling. Eric loves getting and then giving raspberry kisses, they always make him giggle. 

"Good night hyung." Eric responds, as Jacob walks out. 

Jacob also tells Kevin good night before he leaves to go to his own room. 

"Well, sweet dreams, Eric." Kevin says, as he gets up to leave. 

"Wait! You forgot your kiss." 

Kevin turns back and gives Eric a raspberry kiss on the other cheek and then Eric does the same before telling him good night. Eric goes to bed happy to have his hyung's love again. 


	8. Sick Day

Eric wakes up about half an hour earlier than he usually does for school. He thinks that this is odd, but he realizes why he is up when a strong wave of nausea hits him, causing him to run to the bathroom. 

He leans over the toilet and vomits before going into a coughing fit. 

"Eric, are you alright?" Sangyeon asks, walking over to Eric. 

Eric's coughs calm down and he sniffles before answering. 

"Yeah."

"You sure? You don't look too good. You look pale and sound stuffy. Let me take your temperature." 

Sangyeon gets the thermometer out of the cabinet and puts it in Eric's mouth.

"101.3, you have a fever. Go back to bed, you can't go to school today." 

"But-"

Just as Eric is about to argue with Sangyeon, he throws up once again. Okay, maybe Sangyeon is right. He now accepts that he is sick. 

"Fine."

Sangyeon guides Eric there to make sure he does go back to bed. Sangyeon tucks Eric back in and puts extra blankets on him to keep him warm since he saw Eric shivering. 

"I'm gonna go get you some medicine, okay?"

Eric nods. 

Sangyeon comes back with a spoonful of medicine and a cold pack for Eric's forehead. He puts the medicine towards Eric's mouth, but he whines and turns away like usual. 

"No! Yucky!" 

"Come on, Eric. You need this medicine to make you feel better. Please, take the medicine for hyung." Sangyeon pleads, hoping it will work. 

Eric gives in and takes the spoonful of medicine, hoping it will make him feel better. 

"Good boy. Now, just get your rest."

While the rest of the boys are having breakfast later, Sangyeon tells everyone about Eric's condition. 

"Awww, poor baby. We'll all take good care of him."

Just then, they see Eric walk past the kitchen and into Juyeon and Younghoon's room. He comes out wearing one of Younghoon's hoodies. He loves to do this whenever he is sick, because the hoodies are very comforting and fuzzy. 

"Hey chum chum. Do you need anything?"

"Wa." Eric says, pointing to the sink. 

Eric always talks like this when he is sick, he likes to use as little energy as possible, which includes shortening his speech. The members are used to it by now and usually know what he means when he talks like this. 

"Do you want water in your ice too?"

Eric nods before going back to his room. 

Jacob gets the ice water for Eric and he takes a couple sips before going back to sleep. 

Around noon, the boys have some free time before they have to go to the company, so some of them watch television in the living room together. During this time, Eric waddles in and cuddles up to Kevin, who is sitting on the couch. 

"Eric, you know no cuddling when you're sick. That's why we got you your big teddy bear."

"Teddy lost." Eric responds. 

"Lost? I thought we put him in the hallway closet. Don't worry squishy, I will go find him for you. In the meantime, you need to go back to bed and rest." Kevin replies. 

"I'll take him." Haknyeon offers. 

Eric grabs onto Haknyeon and follows him to the room. 

Kevin looks in the hallway closet and finds Eric's big teddy bear that he likes to cuddle with when he is sick. 

"Here you go, squishy." Kevin says, handing Eric his bear. 

Eric grabs it and cuddles it before thanking Kevin. 

"Anything to make you feel better. We're about to leave soon, so who do you want to watch over you while we are gone?" Kevin responds. 

"J J." Eric answers.

"You want Juyeon and Jacob this time?"

Eric nods. 

"Okay. Get lots of rest." Kevin says, before leaving the room. 

Jacob and Juyeon are left to watch Eric while everyone else goes to practice. Eric just sleeps for the first hour, but then he wakes up calling for help all of sudden after that. 

"Hyungs!!!"

Jacob and Juyeon run into the room to see Eric crying. 

"Eric, what happened?"

"Nightmare." Eric reveals. 

Jacob goes over to Eric and holds him to calm him down. 

"It's alright, it was a fever dream. Your hyungs are here now and we'll protect you." Jacob tells Eric, while petting his hair. 

Jacob sees that Mr. Cuddlesworth is on the floor. 

"Looks like you didn't have Mr. Cuddlesworth. Maybe that is why this happened, let me fix it."

Jacob rearranges things so that Eric's head is laying on the big bear's chest and he can still hold Mr. Cuddlesworth in his hands. 

"Juyeon, can you watch Eric while I go make him some tea?"

Juyeon nods and sits down on a nearby chair. 

"How are you feeling?" Juyeon questions.

"Icky."

"Awww, I'm sure you'll feel better soon. We will take good care of you." 

"Hyung?"

"Yeah?"

"Nose runny."

Juyeon quickly grabs a tissue and puts it up to Eric's nose. 

"Blow." 

Eric blows his nose into the tissue and sniffles. 

"Good boy."

Just then, Jacob returns with Eric's bottle of tea. He put it in a reusable water bottle so Eric wouldn't have to get up to drink, all he has to do is pull the straw up. Eric accepts the bottle and begins to drink out of the straw. 

"Do you need anything else?"

"Stay." Eric replies. 

"You want us to stay with you?"

Eric nods. 

The two of them stay with Eric, they sing to him and give him a scalp massage until he falls back asleep. 

When Eric wakes up, it is time for dinner. He says he is actually hungry, so Sangyeon makes him some soup. Eric wants more than just soup, so he sneaks some ice cream and candy right before dinner. 

"Sit." Eric says, pointing at Jaehyun who is already sitting at the table. 

Since there are enough seats and Eric does not have a favorite one, he must want to sit on his hyung's lap.

Jaehyun pushes his chair out a little and pats his lap for Eric to sit. Eric climbs into his lap, laying his head on Jaehyun's chest and holding onto him. 

"Did you have a good nap?" Jaehyun asks him. 

"Yeah." Eric replies.

A couple minutes later, all the boys show up and dinner is served. Sangyeon places the soup in front of Eric like he promised. 

"Here is your spoon, Eric." Jaehyun says, handing Eric the utensil. 

"No." Eric whines. 

"Feed me." Eric tells him. 

"Okay. I'll feed you, but that means you have to eat as much as you can."

"Okay."

Jaehyun takes a spoonful of soup and begins to feed Eric. 

"Is it yummy?"

Eric nods in response. 

Eric eats half of the bowl before getting full. 

After dinner, Eric remains on Jaehyun's lap for just a little longer while the others clean up. As Eric is sitting there, he throws up all of a sudden. It ends up on Jaehyun's arm and the floor. Eric is beyond embarrassed, causing him to burst into tears. Changmin sees this and immediately steps in, telling Jaehyun to go shower and taking Eric to his room.

"It's alright." Changmin says, patting Eric on the back as the two of them sit on his bed. 

Eric continues to sob. 

"Threw up on hyung. He's probably mad, and it was embarrassing." 

"It was an accident, gummy bear. You didn't mean to do that and Jaehyun knows you didn't mean to either." Changmin explains. 

"Really?"

"Yes, things like this just happen when you are sick."

Eric's tears cries eventually calm down and he feels better thanks to Changmin.

When Jaehyun comes out of the shower, Eric apologizes. 

"Sorry, hyung."

"It's okay, it was an accident. I just hope you start to feel better soon." Jaehyun replies. 

"Eric, time for your bath." Chanhee chimes in, entering the room. 

"Already?"

"Yes. You're ill, so you need to go to bed early to make sure you get plenty of rest."

So, Eric follows Chanhee to the bath. When Eric is sick, he doesn't like to do much, so Chanhee has to help him bathe to make sure he gets clean and doesn't just sit there. 

"Close your eyes, I'm gonna wash out the shampoo."Chanhee warns Eric.

Eric closes his eyes before a waterfall comes down his face. 

"There, all clean." Chanhee announces, leaving the bathroom so Eric can drain the tub and get dressed. 

He puts on sweatpants and a t-shirt, but later feels cold, so he borrows one of Younghoon's hoodies again before going to bed. 

"Wanna stay up." Eric protests one last time, as Jacob tucks him in. 

"You need your rest. The more you sleep, the better you'll feel."

"This medicine will help too." Sangyeon says, walking over with another spoonful of medicine that Eric hates. 

"No! Yucky!" 

"Eric you need this." 

Sangyeon stops and thinks for a moment. He needs a new approach to get Eric to take the medicine again. 

"What if it is a plane coming in for a landing?"

Eric doesn't know why, but for some reason having a plane fly into his mouth rather than a spoonful of medicine just sounds so much better, even though he knows nothing has changed. 

Sangyeon makes plane noises and moves the spoon around until it reaches Eric's open mouth. He swallows the syrup, causing Sangyeon and Jacob to smile in response. 

"Now, here is some chamomile tea. It should help you fall asleep and calm your tummy down."

"Good night, kiddo." Sangyeon says.

"Night."

"And if you need anything during the night, don't be afraid to wake us up." Jacob tells Eric, as they leave the room. 

Eric takes Jacob up on his offer a few hours later. He wakes up in the middle of the night and really wants some company, so he goes over to Sangyeon and Jacob's room. 

"Hyungs!" Eric whines, turning the light on and off. 

Eric begs them to sleep in their bed and of course, they allow their maknae to snuggle up between them so that he can sleep comfortably.


	9. Mine!

Eric is sitting in his room doing his homework when he hears Sangyeon call everyone out to the living room. Eric puts his pencil down and goes to see what the commotion is about. 

"Guys, I have a really special gift for all of you inside this bag."

"Is it a new video game?"

"No, it's.... a cute teddy bear." Sangyeon answers, taking a bear out of the bag. 

Eric has to admit, the bear is adorable. It is wearing a black suit with hearts and smiley faces on it, the bear is also holding a little microphone in it's paw. 

"It can talk and play music with a blue tooth speaker."

Most of the members aren't that interested, so they just go back to their rooms. The maknaes, on the other hand, are very interested in the toy. 

"I knew I could count on my maknaes to appreciate such a nice gift." Sangyeon says, as they stare in awe. 

"It's so cool! When can we play with it?" Haknyeon asks. 

"Anytime you want to. Just remember to share."

Since Eric has to finish his homework, he doesn't get to play with the bear until later. 

Eric is playing with it when Sunwoo comes by asking Eric to use it. 

"Not now."

"But you had it all day." Sunwoo responds. 

"I'm not done though."

"You can't just hog it." Sunwoo says, taking the bear. 

"Give that back." Eric argues, taking a hold of the bear. 

The two of them are now engaged in a tug-of-war with the bear. 

"Give it!"

"No, it's mine!"

"You had it all day, Eric."

Sunwoo manages to snatch the bear out of Eric's hands. 

"Give that back or I'll pinch you!" Eric exclaims. 

"Sohn Youngjae!" Sangyeon says, grabbing Eric by the wrist and quickly dragging him to his room. 

"What did I just hear you say?"

"Ummm, nothing."

"Nothing? I thought I just heard you threaten another member. Am I wrong?" Sangyeon replies. 

"No, you're not wrong." 

"You're staying in here and you're going to think about what you just did." Sangyeon tells him, before shutting the door. 

Eric sits and thinks for twenty minutes, and now sees that he was out of line. It is just a teddy bear, a really cool one, but still just a teddy bear. He can play with it some other time, he doesn't have to hog it. Eric decides to leave his room and talk to Sunwoo, who is still in the living room. He quickly goes over to him and hugs him. 

"What are you doing?" 

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been a jerk earlier. I should have just shared." Eric explains. 

"It's okay, you little brat. I knew you were just bluffing anyway." Sunwoo chuckles. 

"Hey, you wanna play some video games together?" Eric suggests. 

"As long you promise not to pinch me over who gets to be player one."

Eric laughs in response as he walks over to the console to put it on. 


	10. The Bully

Eric walks out of school one afternoon to see Sangyeon and Jacob waiting for him like usual. 

"Hey kiddo." Sangyeon greets Eric, as he walks up to them. 

"Hey." Eric responds, making sure that they cannot see the right side of his face. 

"How was school today?"

"Fine." Eric answers, walking with his head turned away. 

"Why are you walking like that?"

"Like what?" 

"Like you're hiding the right side of your face." 

Sangyeon grabs Eric and picks him up to restrain him. 

"Put me down." Eric whines. 

Jacob inspects Eric's face and sees that Eric has a bandage on his chin. 

"Oh my gosh. What happened?" 

Eric has to admit it now, since he has been caught.

"A kid at school hit me and it left a cut." Eric admits, as Sangyeon puts him back down. 

"What?! How dare that brat hit my little angel? Let's go back to your school and straighten him out." Jacob says. 

"Whoa, calm down, Jacob." Sangyeon says, stopping Jacob. 

"You can't just beat some kid up. That has to be illegal."

"Hyungs, I can handle this by myself." Eric intervenes. 

"You sure?"

Eric nods. 

"Alright." Sangyeon replies, before they continue walking. 

The next day, Eric is picked up by staff members and taken to practice. All the other members are already there, so he is the only one in the car. 

When he reaches the company, he makes sure to go to the bathroom first to put on some make-up to cover his black eye. Thankfully, he does such a good job that nobody notices his black eye. At home, however, Eric starts to think that he should tell someone about his bully issue. He thought he could handle it on his own, but after being chased down the hallway and punched in the face by his bully, Jasper, he knows that he needs to talk to someone about this. So Eric goes to Juyeon to help solve his problem. Lucky for Eric, Juyeon is alone in his room reading a book. 

"Juyeon hyung, do you have a minute?"

"All the minutes in the world for you, squishy."

As Eric gets closer, Juyeon notices his black eye. 

"Eric, what happened?"

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. This kid at school named Jasper has been bullying me lately and I don't know what to do. How do you deal with a bully? Please help me. I just want to know what to do before he breaks my arm or something."

"Well, Eric, you might not know this, but I was bullied in school too."

"You were?"

"Yeah. People would pick on me and beat me up because I was the scrawny kid."

"What did you do?" Eric asks. 

"I started working out and gave them a taste of their own medicine, then they left me alone." Juyeon answers. 

"Is that why you are so cool and manly now? So I should beat up my bully?"

"No, Eric. Fighting back isn't always the answer. Talk it out with this guy first if you can, and if he still continues then you need to defend yourself as a last resort. I don't want you to get hurt even worse by fighting back if you don't have to. Who knows, maybe you guys will work things out and end up being friends."

"Okay. Thanks for the advice." Eric smiles, before leaving. 

At school the next day, Eric runs into Jasper before class starts. 

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Eric."

"Just leave me alone, Jasper." Eric responds. 

"Why? That's no fun." Jasper says, before shoving Eric.

"I don't want to fight."

"Ha! You can't fight me anyway you little wimp."

Jasper throws a punch, but Eric dodges it, he also dodges the punch after that. 

"Stop squirming, you little rat!"

Jasper throws a punch towards Eric's face, but Eric blocks it with his hand. 

"What's wrong that is making you act like this? Is something going on at home or at school that is upsetting you?" Eric questions. 

Jasper freezes, caught off guard either by the fact that Eric blocked his punch or that Eric wants to know why he is acting this way. 

"What do you care? What does anyone care?"

"I just want to know why you hate me so much." Eric replies. 

Jasper is quiet for a moment before he decides to answer. 

"You're so much better than me at English. My grade is so bad and people make fun of me for it, while you get praised for how good your grade is." 

"I could help you study." Eric offers. 

"You'd do that? After what I did to you?"

"Yeah. If you want help, I'm willing to give it."

Jasper agrees and from then on Eric tutors him in English. Eric turns out to be a really good tutor and helps Jasper get his English grade up. The two even end up becoming friends, as they realize they have several things in common. Looks like Juyeon really does give good advice.


	11. Hyungie And Me Day

Every month, Eric gets to spend an entire day with one of his hyungs. The boys call it Hyungie and Me Day. This month, it is Juyeon's turn to spend the whole day with Eric and spoil him. Eric is beyond excited for this day. He loves all of the members, but he loves Juyeon just a bit more. He really looks up to Juyeon and he is like the big brother that he has always wanted. 

So when Eric wakes up that Friday morning, he runs into Juyeon's room and jumps into his bed. 

"Juyeon hyung! Guess what day it is?"

Juyeon slowly gets up and sniffles. Just by looking at Juyeon, Eric knows something is wrong. His eyes are half closed, he looks pale, and he looks tired. 

"Eric, I'm sorry. I'm sick today and Sangyeon wants me to rest." Juyeon explains.

"But don't worry, because I'm covering for Juyeon so you can still have a good time." Kevin says, putting his hand on Eric's shoulder. 

"We are going to have so much fun today." Kevin adds. 

"Thanks for covering." Juyeon tells him. 

"No problem. Now come on, Eric, let's leave Juyeon alone so he can rest. I made you breakfast." 

As Eric is eating his breakfast, he wonders what Kevin has planned for today. Eric just hopes it isn't anything like last time. When he was with Kevin for the day last time, he took Eric to a museum to watch paint dry. Eric was never more bored in his life then he was that day. 

"Do you like your breakfast, squishy?" Kevin asks Eric. 

"Yeah, I love pancakes. Thank you, hyung." 

After breakfast, Kevin and Eric go out to spend the day together. They are walking to a museum when Eric mentally groans, time to get bored for a day again. 

However, that changes when they enter the museum and Eric sees a large unicorn in the center of the room. 

"Look at this huge unicorn!" Eric exclaims, running up to a hoof and hugging it. 

"I guess you like the unicorn museum, huh?"

"This whole museum is full of unicorns?!"

Kevin nods. 

"This is the best day ever!" Eric smiles. 

"Come on, let's go see the rest of the museum." 

The first thing they see is the baby unicorn exhibit, filled with tiny unicorns. There is even a part where they get to name a newborn unicorn by putting a name tag on a stuffed animal. Eric decides to name his unicorn Comet. The rest of the museum is filled with unicorn sculptures, paintings, and stories about unicorns. Eric's favorite part of the museum is getting to paint his own plaster unicorn. 

"What color is your unicorn going to be, Eric?"

"Pink, with a blue mane and tail." Eric answers, happily painting his unicorn. 

"What about you hyungie?" 

"He's gonna be red and green."

"A Christmas unicorn?"

"Yeah, named Jingle." Kevin answers. 

After decorating the unicorns and buying Eric a big stuffed unicorn, it is time to go home. 

"Time to go already?"

"I'm afraid so." Kevin answers, holding onto Eric's hand so they can walk out together. 

As they are leaving, they see a person dressed as an unicorn waving at them. 

"Bye bye unicorn." Eric waves back, as they leave. 

"Did you have fun today, chum chum?" Kevin asks, while the two of them walk home. 

"You bet! This was so awesome."

"I'm glad. I really wanted to make it up to you after that painting drying museum. I know how bored you were."

"Thanks for such a fun day, we should do this again."

"Of course we can." Kevin responds, ruffling Eric's hair. 

When they get back home, Eric seems sleepy, so Kevin decides to tuck him in for a nap. 

"Hyung, can I ask you something?" Eric says, as Kevin puts the blanket over him. 

"Sure. What is it?"

"Are unicorns real? Do they really exist somewhere out there in the world?" Eric replies. 

"Well, the world is such a big place, so I am sure unicorns do exist somewhere out there." 

Eric smiles, happy to hear that one of his favorite animals might actually exist. 

"I wish I could see a real unicorn one day." 

"You never know, your wish might come true." Kevin tells Eric. 

"Have a nice nap, by the time you wake up it will be close to dinnertime." Kevin adds. 

Kevin gives Eric a raspberry kiss on the cheek and Eric does the same to him before Kevin leaves Eric's room. Eric cuddles up to his brand new stuffed unicorn and soon drifts off to sleep. Having such an exciting day really tired him out. 


	12. I Knee You

After school on a Friday afternoon, Eric gets to hang out at the playground with his best friend, Felix. They are currently playing tag while their leaders watch them in the distance. 

"Tag! You're it." Eric says, tapping Felix before running away. 

Felix chases Eric for a couple minutes before getting exhausted and giving up. 

"You're too fast, Eric. I give up, let's play on the swings instead." Felix suggests. 

"Okay." Eric agrees. 

Eric and Felix go on the swings and end up going really high after a few minutes. Felix gradually slows to a stop, while Eric jumps off the swing instead. Unfortunately, Eric ends up landing on his knees rather than his feet.... and it really hurts. Eric tries as hard as possible to hold back a scream so that Sangyeon won't know that something is wrong. 

"Eric, are you alright?" Felix asks, running over to Eric and helping him stand back up. 

"Yeah, just got a little hit. Owww."

"Maybe we should tell your hyung." Felix says. 

"Why? It's not that big of a deal, I'm fine. Let's just keep playing." 

"If you say so. Let's play at the sandtable, that shouldn't hurt your knees." 

As they are building stuff at the sandtable, they get called over by their leaders. 

"Okay boys, it's time to go home."

"Eric, don't you have something to tell your hyung?" Felix says, turning to his best friend. 

"Yes. I love you hyung." Eric responds, hugging Sangyeon. 

Eric gives Felix a look from behind Sangyeon's back that says to keep the secret. 

"I love you too, Eric."

Eric and Sangyeon say bye to Felix and Bang Chan before walking back home. 

Later that day, Eric looks at his knees before bed and sees that they are bruised and a little swollen. They don't hurt too much since he hasn't been really active today, but tomorrow they have dance practice. All Eric can do is hope that his knees are better tomorrow. 

When Eric wakes up the next day, his knees are still bruised and a little more painful than before. However, he can still manage to walk, just a little slower than usual. Thankfully, nobody notices his decreased speed as he walks to the breakfast table. Eric sits down and his breakfast is given to him.

As Sangyeon is going over the schedule for the day, Eric dreads hearing the words dance practice. The dance that the boys are currently doing is very intense and there is also a part where they have to be on their knees. It is going to be a long day, but Eric is up for it. He doesn't want to tell anyone about his situation because they will just scold him and say he shouldn't be jumping off stuff, he also doesn't want to have to sit out and hold everyone back. 

"Eric, are you okay?" Sunwoo asks, snapping Eric out of his thoughts. 

"Yeah. Why?"

"It seemed like you were spacing out." Haknyeon points out. 

"Oh. Well, I'm all good." Eric smiles. 

At practice, Eric can't it anymore. They are going over the routine for the third time when Eric is overtaken by the pain in his knees. The part where they fall to their knees comes up and Eric grabs his knees while falling to the side. The members rush over to him and ask what is wrong.

"My knees, they hurt really badly." Eric admits. 

"Let me see them." Jacob says, pulling Eric's pant legs up to see his knees. 

Everyone can now see Eric's badly bruised knees. 

"How did this happen?" Sangyeon questions. 

"When we went to the playground yesterday, I jumped off the swing and landed on my knees." Eric explains, with tears in his eyes. 

"Why didn't you tell us about this right after it happened? You should be resting so that your knees don't get worse." 

"I'm sorry." Eric responds, now crying due to guilt and pain. 

"Gummy bear, why are you crying?" Chanhee asks, wiping away Eric's tears. 

"Because I made you guys mad and I let the team down by getting hurt." Eric explains. 

"We're not mad at you, Eric. We're just a little upset that you didn't tell us about this sooner. It is important that we all know when one of us gets hurt, so that they can take a break and get better as soon as possible." Jaehyun says. 

"Yeah, we don't want you to suffer alone. We always want to take care of you." Changmin adds. 

"Now, we're going to send you home now so you can rest." Jacob states, kissing Eric's forehead. 

Eric gets sent back to the dorm and lays in bed with ice packs on his knees. He is also not allowed to do any physical activity until he heals. Next time, he will make sure to admit when he gets hurt. 


	13. Where's Eric?

"I'll miss you guys." Eric says, as he hugs Sangyeon and Jacob tightly. 

"We'll miss you too, munchkin. We'll be back Monday morning, and Jaehyun will watch over you until we come back." Sangyeon replies. 

"Have fun." Eric says. 

"We will." Jacob responds. 

Jacob gives Eric one last hug before leaving with Sangyeon. 

"Don't worry, Eric. It is only a weekend, they'll be back before you know it." Jaehyun says. 

"How about we do something fun?" Jaehyun suggests. 

"Can we play horsey?" Eric asks. 

"Hop on." Jaehyun replies, allowing Eric to get on his back. 

Eric has fun playing horsey and other games with Jaehyun and his other hyungs until dinner. 

When it is time for bed, Jaehyun is the one to tuck Eric in like Jacob and Sangyeon usually do. 

"Good night, squishy."

"Night night hyung." 

Things seem to be going well with Jaehyun in charge for the weekend, at least for day one. 

The next day, at the time where Eric is supposed to be doing his homework, he is on his phone playing games instead. 

"Eric, did you do your homework yet?" Jaehyun questions, after twenty minutes of Eric playing. 

"I'll get to it eventually."

"You know the rules, you are supposed to be doing homework at this time, then you can play." Jaehyun says. 

"I said I would do it later." 

"No, you are doing it now." Jaehyun replies, taking the phone away from Eric. 

"Hey, give that back! You're not the boss of me." Eric argues.

"You can have it once you finish your homework."

Jaehyun then leaves the room and shuts the door behind him. 

"Fine!" Eric yells, as Jaehyun shuts the door. 

Eric sits on his bed and pouts, angry that Jaehyun took his phone and is being such a bossy jerk. He was only using his phone for a moment. Eric has to fight back, so he decides to run away. Once Jacob and Sangyeon learn that Jaehyun let Eric out on his own, then Jaehyun will be the one in real trouble. So, when Eric knows that the coast is clear, since Jaehyun is making dinner, he sneaks out of the dorm and begins his journey to Sangyeon and Jacob's house. Eric takes the bus and then walks the rest of the way there. 

Back at the dorm, Jaehyun has now realized that Eric is missing. 

"Okay, Eric time for din-" Jaehyun pauses when he sees that Eric is not in his room where he left him. 

Jaehyun goes out to the living room, but Sunwoo is the only one out there. 

"Sunwoo, have you seen Eric?"

Sunwoo shakes his head in response. 

Jaehyun looks in all the rooms and gets no sign of Eric. 

"Oh my gosh, I lost Eric! Sangyeon and Jacob are going to kill me." 

Jaehyun can just see how mad they will be once they find out, especially Jacob. To Jacob, Eric is like his own baby even though Eric is only a few years younger than him. Well, Eric is like that to all the members, but Jacob is the one who loves to nurture him the most. 

"How could you lose my precious baby?! Anything could happen to him out there! He is probably cold, alone, and afraid. What if he gets kidnapped? You.... you bastard!" Jacob would say to him. 

Jacob never curses, but when it comes to something as serious as losing their maknae, then he would. Sangyeon, on the other hand, would give Jaehyun a very angry glare and a terrible scolding. Jaehyun needs to find Eric, not just for his sake, but also because he wants to make sure their maknae is safe. 

Meanwhile, at Jacob and Sangyeon's house, Eric knocks on their front door. Sangyeon is the one who answers it. 

"Eric? What are you doing here?" Sangyeon asks. 

"Did you say Eric?" Jacob chimes in. 

Jacob walks over to the front door and sees Eric, he quickly invites him in and tells him to sit on the couch while he goes to get a blanket. 

"Shouldn't you be at the dorm?" Sangyeon asks, as he sits next to Eric. 

"Sangyeon is right. What are you doing all the way out here on such a chilly night?" Jacob says, putting a blanket over Eric and sitting on the other side of him. 

"I ran away because Jaehyun was being mean to me."

"What did he do?"

"He took away my phone."

"That's it?" Sangyeon responds. 

"Did you need your phone for homework or were you just playing on it?" Jacob inquires. 

"Playing." Eric admits. 

"Then what's the problem? You know the rules, homework first. You are only allowed to take ten minute breaks every hour. That rule is not new, and it never changes."

"I'd say Jaehyun was in the right. It sounds like you were taking advantage of the fact that someone else was in charge." Sangyeon states. 

"Did you even start your homework?" Jacob questions. 

"No." 

"We are very disappointed in you, Eric." Jacob tells him. 

"I'm sorry."

"I'd better call Jaehyun and tell him that Eric is with us so he doesn't go on a wild goose chase."

While Sangyeon is on the phone, Jacob makes Eric some hot chocolate. 

"Can I have cookies too?" Eric asks. 

Even though Jacob is disappointed in Eric for running away, he just can't resist spoiling Eric. So Eric does get what he wants, but he only gets one cookie instead of his usual three. 

After Eric has his hot chocolate and cookie, Jacob and Sangyeon take him back home. 

"Now, do not lose him again. I know he can be a slippery little froggy, but you have to watch him carefully." Sangyeon tells Jaehyun, when he drops Eric off. 

When Sangyeon leaves, Eric wonders what Jaehyun will do about him running away. Hopefully he won't be too harsh. 

"Okay, I'm going to make this short since I'm not really good with punishment. You are going to do your homework for the rest of the day, and then you can have your phone back tomorrow. Deal?"

"Deal." Eric agrees. 

Eric walks back to his room and sighs in relief that he got off easily. He is not excited to start that homework so late though, but it is better than having his games taken away for a few days like Sangyeon probably would have done. 


	14. Cat Attack

Eric loves going to the pet shelter, he gets to see a whole bunch of animals that he wishes he could take home as his pets. One of the animals that he really wishes were his, are the cats. 

"You guys are so cute! I wish I could take you home." Eric says aloud, as he pets an orange cat. 

He then looks over at Juyeon with puppy dog eyes. 

"That might work on Jacob and Changmin, but not me. No, Eric. You can't bring a cat into the dorm." 

"Why not?" Eric whines. 

"Because Kevin and Jacob are allergic to cats."

"But Sangyeon and Jacob have their own house that they go to sometimes."

"Yeah, but Kevin is still at the dorm and his room is right next to your's." Juyeon replies. 

"Fine." Eric pouts, picking the cat up and holding it closely. 

Luckily for Eric, when he is walking home from getting some ice cream, he finds a stray gray kitten in the bushes. 

"Hi kitty. What's your name?" Eric greets the kitten.

The kitten meows in response and walks over to Eric, so he picks it up. The kitten curls up in his arms and meows at him. 

"Awww, you are so cute. I need to take you home. Wait here, I'll go back to the store and buy some food for you."

Eric places the kitten back down and quickly gets some cat food at the store around the corner. When he returns, the kitten is still there waiting for him. 

"Okay, let's go home." 

During the walk home, Eric comes up with a name for the kitten, Pepper. 

When the two of them get back home, Eric sneaks into his room and puts Pepper and his food away. Eric is so excited to have his own cat, he just has to make sure that this stays a secret. Maybe Eric can actually come up with a plan to convince his hyungs to let him keep Pepper. 

Later that night, when Jacob and Sangyeon are giving Eric his glass of milk and telling him good night, Jacob goes into a sneezing fit after hugging Eric. 

"Jacob, you okay?" Sangyeon asks. 

"Yeah, it's probably just some dust." Jacob answers, while sneezing. 

"When was the last time you cleaned your room, chum chum?"

"A week ago."

"Well, it is time to clean it again." Sangyeon responds. 

The two of them tell Eric good night before leaving.

"That was a close one." Eric thinks, as he pulls his blanket down to reveal Pepper. 

Eric kisses the cat good night before falling asleep. 

The next day, the boys don't have a schedule so Eric gets to spend time with Pepper for the whole day. The kitten is really active, so Eric has Pepper chase a piece of string around. 

"Wow, Pepper. You are so fast." Eric says, as he watches the cat chase the string around. 

Moments later, Eric hears a knock at the door. 

"Uh oh, I got to hide Pepper." Eric thinks. 

Eric puts Pepper in his cardboard bed that Eric made for him yesterday and hides him under his own bed. Eric pulls out a comic book from behind his pillow to make it look like he is doing something. 

"Come in." Eric replies. 

"Hey, squishy. What are you up to?" Juyeon says, as he enters the room. 

"Just some reading."

"Oh. Well, I just wanted to ask you if you want to go to the park." Juyeon brings up. 

Eric would really love to go to the park with his hyung, but right now he is having even more fun playing with his pet cat. 

"No thanks, I'd rather read today." Eric answers, hoping Juyeon won't become suspicious. 

"Alright. If you change your mind, you know where to find me." Juyeon replies, ruffling Eric's hair before leaving the room. 

With Juyeon gone, Eric gets Pepper out from under the bed. 

"I love spending time with Juyeon hyung, but I need to spend every possible moment with you." Eric tells Pepper. 

Pepper meows in response. 

"You are so adorable, I love you too." Eric says, kissing the cat. 

Thankfully, nobody comes into the room for the rest of the day until it is time for bed. This gives Eric time to take photos of Pepper, cuddle with him, watch him eat his cat food, and play with string. This has been one of the best days of Eric's life. Tomorrow will be completely different though. The boys have practice, so Pepper will be alone. 

"Be a good boy while I'm gone." Eric whispers to Pepper, before exiting his room. 

At practice, the others come close to realizing that something is up. 

"Hey, babykins. I didn't see you at all yesterday. You didn't even come see me for cuddles." Jacob says, sitting down next to Eric and putting an arm around him. 

"I was busy reading. I haven't picked up a comic book in forever so I read some for the whole day." Eric explains. 

"Oh. Well-" Jacob begins, but he is cut off by a sneezing fit. 

"Hyung, are you alright?" Eric asks, even though he knows why Jacob is sneezing. 

"Yeah. My nose is just itchy, must be dust or something again." 

"Hey guys. What are we up to?" Kevin says, sitting on the other side of Eric. 

"Just hanging out." Eric answers. 

Of course, Kevin starts sneezing now too. 

"Guys, what's wrong? Why are you both sneezing?" Chanhee asks. 

"I don't know. It must be something in the air."

"Okay everyone, time to get back to work." Changmin announces. 

The boys all get in their positions, and that is when Kevin and Jacob finally stop sneezing. 

"Hey, you guys stopped sneezing so much. I wonder what was wrong." Sangyeon says. 

"Maybe you two are allergic to Eric. You stopped sneezing once you got away from him." Jaehyun jokes. 

Jaehyun has no idea how close he is to the truth until the boys go back home hours later. 

"Oh my gosh! What happened in here?!" Chanhee exclaims, as he enters his and Eric's room. 

Books are knocked down all over the floor, a cup of water is spilled, and the bed sheets are scratched up. In the middle of all this mess, is Pepper, who is sleeping peacefully. The rest of the boys come to find what is going on, and they see the kitten too. 

"So that is why Jacob and Kevin were sneezing." Haknyeon states. 

"Eric, do you know why there is a kitten in your room?" Jacob questions. 

"Ummm, Chanhee did it." Eric responds. 

"How could I have done it?"

"Fine, it was me. I found this kitten the other day when I went to get ice cream. I named him Pepper." 

"Eric, you have to take him to the shelter." Sangyeon says. 

"No, I can't! I won't!" Eric replies, slamming the door and locking himself in with the cat. 

"Pepper, they're trying to take you away from me." Eric says to the cat, as he picks him up and holds him closely. 

"Eric, open the door." Sunwoo says. 

"Uh uh."

"Eric, open this door. Come on, it's my room too so you have to let me in." Chanhee tells Eric. 

Well, Chanhee is right. Eric can't just lock him out of his own room. He decides to open the door so that his hyung can enter. 

"Eric, can we talk?"

"No." 

"But it is important. Can we just talk for a minute?" Chanhee replies, sitting down next to Eric. 

"Fine." Eric gives in. 

"Eric, we are not trying to be mean to you or hurt you, but you have to take the kitten to the shelter."

"But, why? It's not fair, I want him to stay." Eric argues. 

"Well, for one thing Kevin and Jacob are allergic to cats. If you keep Pepper, then their eyes will always water and they will keep sneezing and that's not good for them. You care about them, right?" 

"Yeah. I love Jacob hyung and Kevin hyung, I love all of you guys." Eric answers. 

"And we love you too, that's why we are gently telling you that Pepper has to go because it will be hard for you to take care of him with how busy we always are. He is also very energetic it seems, based on all the mess in here. Maybe a bit too energetic."

"Yeah, he is just like me. I guess you are right, with all the energy he has it would be like having two of me and you guys can barely keep up with just me. Okay, I'll take him to the shelter." Eric says. 

"Good. I'm proud of you for making this decision. You can spend the rest of the day with him and then we'll take him to the shelter tomorrow morning." 

"Okay, hyung."

The next morning, Younghoon goes with Eric to the shelter to drop off Pepper. Luckily for Eric, the man who owns the shelter allows Eric to come and see Pepper whenever he wants to. Not surprisingly, Eric goes to see Pepper whenever he has time, even if it is just for a few minutes. He is able to do this for a couple months until Pepper gets adopted. Eric continues to go to the shelter even after his kitten gets adopted because he loves cats, and even if he can't adopt one, he will gladly spend time with some. 


	15. All Grown Up

When Eric is at school eating lunch with his friends, he notices a note at the bottom of his lunch box. He picks it up and it reads the following:

"Dear squishy little maknae, I hope you are having a good day at school, babykins. I know that Sunwoo has sun in his name, but you are such a precious little ray of sunshine. We are so lucky to have a maknae like you! Love, Changmin." 

"Hey, Eric, what are you reading?" His friend, Jasper asks. 

"Just a note from my hyung about practice later." Eric lies, hiding the piece of paper in his pocket. 

"Yeah, my hyungs are like that too. They always text me though. It's always practice, practice, practice." 

Eric is just too embarrassed to share the true contents of the note. 

The next day, while backstage at a music show Eric is going through Jacob's bag of snacks when he realizes he has to go to the bathroom. 

"Where are you going?" Jacob asks, as Eric reaches the door.

"To the bathroom." 

"Wait, I have to find someone to go with you so you don't get lost." 

Jacob sees that Haknyeon is not busy, so he calls him over. 

"Haknyeon, Eric has to go potty so I need you to escort him." Jacob explains. 

"Potty? I'm not a toddler! And I don't need help getting to that bathroom anyway."

"Eric, this is a big building. We don't want you getting lost and delaying the performance, like when you went to get a drink last time and couldn't find the way back."

"That was one time.... okay, maybe three times." Eric argues. 

"Eric." Jacob says, not giving in to Eric's argument.

"Fine." Eric groans, leaving with Haknyeon. 

The following day, Eric is at the company working on some music. At one point, he takes a break from his writing to just walk around. As he is doing this, he hears laughter and talking in a room down the hallway. Eric goes to said room and opens the door to see Jaehyun, Kevin, and Sunwoo arm wrestling. 

"Hey, are you guys having an arm wrestling match?" 

"Yeah." Sunwoo answers, before putting down Jaehyun's arm. 

"Come on, best two out of three." Jaehyun says. 

"I bet I could bet all of you guys." Eric brags. 

The three of them burst out laughing in response. 

"Sure, I bet you could. Why don't you just go strap on your light up sneakers and run off." Sunwoo says. 

"Yeah, then hop on your tricycle and pedal back to the dorm." Jaehyun adds. 

"I heard Jacob has chocolate chip cookies and milk waiting for you. Then he will tuck you into your little race car bed and sing you lullabies." Kevin adds. 

The three of them are now rolling on the floor and laughing hard. Eric just storms out, going back to walking in the hallway. 

Later that night, Eric has a dream that he considers to be the final straw. 

He is laying on his back and sees that wooden bars are on his sides. The next thing he knows, Jacob is looking down at him. 

"Good morning, babykins." Jacob says, picking Eric up and holding him. 

"Aww, look at those cute, brown eyes." Jacob gushes. 

"Eric's up?" Sangyeon asks, walking in. 

"Yup. Can you get his breakfast while I get him settled?" 

Sangyeon nods and the two of them walk to the kitchen together. While Sangyeon gets the food, Jacob puts Eric in a high chair and clips a bib around his neck. Eric now knows what is going on, he is an infant. 

"Oh! Can I feed Eric this time?" Younghoon asks, entering the kitchen. 

"Sure." Sangyeon agrees, handing Younghoon the baby food.

Younghoon feeds Eric a couple spoonfuls before he starts to cry. 

"Younghoon, what did you do?"

"I don't know."

"I can calm him down." Changmin says, as he enters the kitchen with Chanhee. 

Changmin makes funny faces at Eric, but this does nothing. 

"Changmin, that is not working." Chanhee states, before picking Eric up and holding him closely. 

"Eric, why are you so cranky this morning?" Chanhee asks him, as Eric continues to cry. 

"Give him to me." Juyeon intervenes, taking Eric away from Chanhee. 

"I am his favorite after all. Right, Eric?"

"Eric.... Eric.... Eric." Eric keeps hearing, but it sounds like Jacob's voice instead. 

It must be time to wake up. Eric opens his eyes to see Jacob smiling down at him. 

"Good morning, gummy bear." Jacob says, fixing Eric's hair a bit. 

"Awww, look at those big, adorable eyes." Jacob adds, pinching Eric's cheek before leaving. 

Eric gets up and goes to the breakfast table where everyone is waiting for him. This is the perfect time to tell them that he wants things to change. 

"Squishy, look at this cute breakfast we made for you." Kevin says, handing Eric his plate. 

On the plate is a pancake shaped like a dog face. This is exactly what Eric wants to change. He just stares at the plate and pushes it away in response. 

"Eric, what's wrong? You don't like your breakfast?"

"Do you feel sick?"

"Or are you feeling cranky today? Do you want Sangyeon to sing you that song?" Jacob asks. 

"No. These pancakes are babyish."

"But that's because you are our baby. We thought you would like it since you loved the smiley face pancakes." Jaehyun explains. 

"That's what I wanted to talk to you guys about. Can you guys stop babying me from now on?" 

"What?!?!?!" They all respond. 

"But how can we not baby you? You are too cute!" Changmin comments. 

"Yeah. You are so innocent and precious that you still have that new baby smell." Jacob says, smelling the top of Eric's head. 

The rest of the members sniff the top of Eric's head and agree with Jacob. 

"Hyungs, I'm serious." Eric begins, as they all sit back down. 

"I don't want you guys to treat me like a baby and coddle me anymore. Please?"

"Alright, if you don't want us to baby you anymore, we will respect your decision." Sangyeon replies. 

After breakfast, Eric decides to pack up all of his babyish things. He gives the box to Jacob, since he asked if he could at least keep Eric's old stuff. 

"You're getting rid of this sweater?" Jacob gasps, picking up said custom made sweater.

"It is so childish. It's two teddy bears hugging and it says I love my hyungs under it. " Eric replies. 

"And oh my gosh! How could you get rid of Mr. Cuddlesworth? What about your nightmares?" Jacob says, taking the bear out of the box. 

"I'm not a baby anymore, I can handle my nightmares by myself."

"Alright. Thank you for letting me keep this stuff. It means a lot to me." Jacob smiles. 

"Also.... Can I baby you one last time for just a minute?" Jacob asks. 

"Fine, but after that no more."

Jacob quickly gives Eric a hug, calls him all types of cute nicknames, and gives him one last raspberry kiss before letting go. Eric is tempted to return it, but he doesn't, in favor of being a big boy. 

"Thank you, Eric."

The first change that Eric experiences is that nobody comes to check on him as he is playing video games in his room that afternoon. The boys usually come in to see if Eric wants a snack or wants to go somewhere, but now he is left unsupervised. 

The next change happens at dinner, instead of Eric being served by one of his hyungs, he now has to serve himself. 

At night, Eric realizes that nobody can tell him when to go to bed, so he can stay up all night, playing on his phone. 

"This is the life. No scolding, no nagging, no smothering. I could get used to this." Eric thinks. 

When Eric has to get ready for school the next morning, he has to make his own breakfast and pack his lunch. Then, he walks to school by himself. He has to admit, walking to school alone is boring, he has nobody to talk to about what he is excited to do at school today. 

Eric's self made lunch is also disappointing, he just can't make his lunch box as good as his hyungs do. When Eric gets home from school, he isn't greeted with his usual after school snack. He thinks about making something, but is too tired, so he just goes to bed to nap. 

"Hyung! Hyung! Let's play a game!" Eric exclaims, now energized after his nap. 

"Play a game? Are you trying to test me? You said not to baby you anymore."

"But playing games isn't babyish."

"Yes it is, you always want to play horsey. Which is a pretend game, so that is for kids." Juyeon explains. 

"Fine." 

Eric goes back to his room and decides to be mature and study until dinner. 

At night, Eric decides to go to sleep tonight. He is exhausted from not sleeping at all last night and having a day of school. Maybe it is due to the lack of sleep the previous night, or because he gave up Mr. Cuddlesworth, but Eric has a nightmare that wakes him up. He really wants to crawl into one of his hyung's beds and cuddle up next to them for the night to fall asleep, but since he does not want to be babied anymore, he cannot do that. Instead, Eric lays awake in bed for the rest of the night, unable to fall asleep after having a nightmare. 

It has only been two days, and Eric is starting to regret his decision. This sucks, to be honest. Eric misses eating good packed lunches, having an after school snack, being able to get comfort from someone after he has a nightmare, and so many other things that his hyungs used to do for him. He wants things to go back to normal, but he waits until a week has gone by so that the boys won't laugh at him for not being able to even handle a week of not being coddled and spoiled. 

As soon as that week passes, Eric brings up the issue with the members at one of their group meetings. 

"I know I said I wanted you guys to stop babying me last week, but can you guys start treating me like usual again? I can't handle this. I miss all the stuff you guys do for me. I miss snacks, cuddles, games, Mr. Cuddlesworth, all of it. I just want to go back to normal." Eric brings up. 

"You sure? You want us to treat you like our little maknae again?" Sangyeon asks. 

"Yes. Please, I'm begging you guys. I love being treated that way, I might not like the nagging and stuff, but I like everything else." 

"Okay. We will go back to normal, squishy." 

Eric smiles at hearing one of his cutesy nicknames after so long. 

"Does this mean you want your box back, babykins?" Jacob questions. 

"Yeah, especially Mr. Cuddlesworth." Eric replies, remembering the nightmare he had the other night. 


	16. Shadow

One of Eric's favorite things about being in The Boyz is traveling. The only downside to that is packing, however. Eric thinks packing is boring, especially when he just got a new video game moments ago and Sangyeon is nagging him to pack. 

"Eric, you have to start packing. We're going soon. I don't want us to be late." 

"Alright." Eric replies, while still playing. 

Instead of getting up to start packing, Eric keeps smashing buttons on the controller as he plays his fighting game. 

"Eric, shouldn't you be packing? We're leaving soon, you don't want to forget to pack anything important." Younghoon says, as he passes by the living room. 

"In a minute."

"Okay, you better hurry."

Younghoon goes into his room and leaves Eric to continue his game. 

It isn't until he is called out for a third time that he packs his bags. 

"Eric, come on. We are leaving in five minutes! Hurry up and pack." Chanhee says. 

"Fine." Eric groans, so his hyungs will stop interrupting his game. 

Eric goes to his room, opens up his suitcase and throws in his clothes. Then he closes it up and goes back to his game. 

"That only took two seconds, they didn't need to rush me." Eric thinks. 

Packing fast isn't always a good idea, sure it let Eric play his game a little longer, but it made him forget something crucial. 

The next night, Eric has a nightmare. 

Eric is sitting on a bench in the park watching all of the animals in the park. All of a sudden, it goes really dark, as dark as night. Eric's previous feelings of calm and happiness are now replaced with dread and fear. He can feel a presence somewhere around him, but he doesn't know what it is. 

"Eric." He hears a demonic voice call out.

Now Eric is really scared. Where is that voice coming from? 

"Eric, let's be friends." The voice says. 

Just then, Eric feels a slender hand with very long nails creep up his arm. Eric screams and runs away. 

"Come back, Eric." The voice calls as Eric continues to run. 

As Eric is running, he looks back long enough to get a glimpse of what is chasing him. He sees a dark, humanoid figure with bright red eyes, sharp white teeth, and long fingernails. It is running really fast too. 

Eric runs and runs, until he trips over a tree root. 

"Looks like I've got you now." The shadow man says, before dashing over to Eric. 

Eric abruptly wakes up, but he opens his eyes to see that same figure standing over his bed, looking down at him and smiling to show all of it's sharp teeth. Eric is so horrified, he cannot even move or scream. The figure just stands there staring at him, saying nothing and only smiling wickedly. After a few seconds, it finally vanishes and Eric can move again. Eric immediately hides his face in his pillow and begins to sob. Moments later, a hand touches his shoulder. 

"Get away!" Eric screams, hiding under the blanket. 

"Eric, are you okay?"

Oh, it's Haknyeon. Eric thought it was the monster again. He comes out from under the blanket and is grateful to see Haknyeon. 

"Is it okay if I sit next to you?" Haknyeon asks. 

Eric nods while still sobbing. 

As soon as Haknyeon sits down, Eric latches onto him tightly. Haknyeon puts his arm around him and rubs his back. 

"Did you have a nightmare?" 

"Yeah. I forgot to bring my teddy bear." Eric admits. 

"I'm sorry you got scared." Haknyeon says, hugging Eric. 

Haknyeon notices that Eric's head is sweaty, so he suggests they go to the bathroom to dry off. 

"Your head and face are sweaty, let's go clean you up." 

Haknyeon takes Eric's hand and sets him down in the bathroom. He gets a towel and pats Eric's face with it. He also runs the towel through Eric's hair gently, the soothing and delicate motions make Eric sleepy again. 

"Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight?" Haknyeon asks. 

"Can I, please?"

"Of course you can. Come on." 

Haknyeon lets Eric get in the bed first and then when he gets in, Eric cuddles up to him. 

"Thanks for letting me sleep in your bed, hyung. Sorry if I woke you up with my crying." Eric says. 

"Don't worry about it, squishy. I know how bad your nightmares can be. Just relax and try to go back to sleep, everything will be alright."

Haknyeon pets Eric's hair until he falls asleep, and Eric sleeps peacefully through the rest of the night thanks to his hyung. 


	17. Tummy Troubles

Eric loves payday, the best part about it is that it is the one thing his hyungs can not interfere with. They can't tell him how to spend his money, so he can buy anything that he wants. This time he decides to spend it on sweets. Eric goes to the nearest convenience store and buys sodas, candies, ice cream bars, and cookies. When he gets back to the dorm, he eats every single one of his snacks. Eric loves all of this sugar, it has been a while seen he has had this much. It is so much sugar, that he gets a sugar rush and starts running around the house. 

"Eric, stop running around the kitchen, you could get hurt!" Changmin scolds. 

"But I have so much energy. What am I supposed to do?" Eric asks, jumping in place. 

"Why don't you go play your dancing game?"

"Okay." 

Eric runs to the empty living room and sets up Just Dance. With all of the energy he has, Eric is more than able to tear through the moves and he ends up breaking his personal records on the game. After going through all the songs, Eric starts to feel sleepy, so he goes to his room to take a nap. When he awakens, he has a bad stomach ache. It feels like a log is stuck in his stomach and he feels likes he wants to throw up all of the snacks that he just ate. 

When Eric feels bad like this, he only wants one thing, which is cuddles. He goes to look for Younghoon and eventually finds him on the couch in the living room, laying under a blanket and watching television. Eric gets under the blanket and cuddles up to him, burying his face in his hyung's chest. 

"Babykins, what's wrong?" Younghoon questions. 

"Tummy hurts."

"Awww, let me go make you some tea." 

"No! Stay, I need you." Eric says, holding Younghoon even tighter. 

"But E-"

Luckily for both of them, Changmin and Chanhee come by to talk to Younghoon. 

"Hey hyung, want to-"

They both know something is up.

"What's wrong with Eric?" Chanhee asks. 

"His stomach hurts. Can you guys make him some tea? I was going to, but he doesn't want me to leave him." Younghoon explains. 

Chanhee goes to the kitchen to start making Eric some ginger tea, while Changmin stays to observe Eric. 

"Eric, turn around so I can look over you." 

Eric slowly turns around to face Changmin. He pokes Eric's stomach before massaging it gently. 

"Does that feel better?" 

Eric nods, so Changmin has Younghoon massage Eric's stomach for him. 

"He got a tummy ache from eating too much sweets."

"How do you know?" Younghoon questions. 

"Because he always loves tummy massages and cuddles when this happens. He was also really hyper earlier, so he probably had a sugar rush."

"Is this true, Eric?" 

"Yes." Eric admits. 

"Eric, you know you shouldn't eat too much sweets at once, it makes your tummy hurt every time." 

Before Younghoon can continue scolding Eric, Chanhee walks in with the ginger tea. Eric takes the tea from him and begins to drink, wanting to feel better as soon as possible. 

"Since you don't feel well, how about we watch a movie? Do you want to watch a princess movie or a superhero one?" Changmin asks, since those are the only types of movies that Eric likes to watch. 

"I wanna watch Lego Batman." Eric answers. 

"Alright, I'll get it set up." Changmin responds, pinching Eric's cheek. 

Changmin puts the movie in and Eric watches half of it while drinking his tea before he falls asleep. 

By the time the movie is over, Eric wakes up. Younghoon is still holding onto him and massaging his stomach. 

"You're awake." Chanhee points out. 

"Do you feel better yet?"

"Yeah, much better. My stomach doesn't feel heavy anymore."

The three of them are relieved and smile in response. Eric really does feel much better, now more sick stomach, he can eat again. 

"Hey, can I have some candy before dinner?"

"No." They all answer.

Eric should have expected that. Just in case Eric's stomach is still giving problems, the boys give him rice and toast for dinner. No more sweets for him for a couple days, that is for sure. 


	18. Not Enough

While the boys are going through the performance for their soon approaching comeback, Eric is singing his part when he forgets it halfway through. He goes blank and just hums the other half of his lines. To make things worse, he messes up the dance for the rest of the song and keeps looking around to remember where he left off. By the time he catches up, the song is already over.

Minutes later, while they are taking a break, Eric is frustrated with himself. 

"How could I mess up my lines and the dance? This is terrible. I'm terrible." Eric thinks. 

"Hey squishy, you okay?" Jaehyun asks, sitting down next to Eric. 

"I messed up my lines and the dance."

"That's alright, everyone makes mistakes." 

"But it was so easy, we have been practicing for weeks now. I shouldn't have made a mistake at all." Eric explains. 

"Eric, sometimes you just have a bad day. It happens to everyone."

But Eric cannot forget about this and move on. All he can think about is what the members must think, and what the audience would have thought if there was one just now. 

"How could he mess up such an easy part? Is he even trying?"

"How does he not know his own lines? Does he not practice?"

"He is dragging our team down."

"We are so disappointed in you, Eric."

Eric is determined to make up this mistake, he needs to practice and work harder. 

The next morning, Eric goes to the company early to practice. After going over his lines several times in a row, he moves onto his dancing. Mastering the dance has been a little hard since this is a different style. This new dance is more fast paced. 

Half way through his time during the dance, the rest of the boys enter the practice room. 

"Eric, you sure are early." Changmin points out. 

"Just wanted to get some extra practice in."

Changmin nods before starting practice. 

One day of practice is not enough for Eric. He decides to go the whole week, doing this same schedule of early practice, before he is stopped. It is not Eric who chooses to stop though. 

Eric is practicing his dancing for what might be the fourteenth time that day. He is drenched in sweat, gasping for air, and his muscles are beyond sore. He has to continue however, despite his extreme discomfort. When the song is over, Eric's body can't take it anymore and he faints. Just as he hits the floor, the others walk in. 

"Oh my gosh, Eric!"

They all rush over, making sure to put him on his back and elevate his feet. 

"Eric, wake up. Please, wake up." 

After about a minute, Eric does wake up from his fainting spell. He sees that he is surrounded by his hyungs. 

"Eric, what happened?" Younghoon asks. 

"I don't know. I was dancing and the next thing I know everything went black." Eric answers. 

"You must have passed out from exhaustion." Kevin states. 

"You know, you have been practicing to a great extent lately. It is like you are here more than you are at the dorm." Changmin points out. 

"Why have you been practicing so much when you don't need to?" Sangyeon questions. 

"Because I messed up when we did our performance run through." Eric explains. 

"Eric, it was just one mistake. It is okay." Haknyeon says. 

"No! It's not okay! I messed up something so easy. I'm such an idiot, I don't deserve to be in the group. I'll drag everyone down if I make such simple mistakes. I hate myself." Eric rants. 

"Eric, calm down. You don't want to get yourself worked up, you might faint again." Jacob warns. 

"Now, the first thing I want to address, don't you ever say that you hate yourself. You are such an amazing little angel, there is nothing to hate about you. Also, you deserve to be in this group, you complete us." Jacob begins. 

"But I made a mistake." 

"Eric, we all make mistakes. It is a normal thing, it is no big deal. We still love you, and we know you are doing your best." Sangyeon responds. 

"Yeah, we all make mistakes. The important thing is that you should keep going and not let it eat away at you." Changmin adds. 

Eric is now happy again, maybe he was just stressed out and that made him worry over nothing.

"I guess you guys are right. I don't know why I freaked out over it so much." 

"You're so sweaty babykins. Let's skip practice and take you home so you can have a nice bath and take a nap." Jacob says, before turning to Sangyeon for approval. 

Sangyeon nods in response. Juyeon picks Eric up and carries him back to the dorm. Eric ends up falling asleep in his arms, so they have to wake him up when it is time for his bath. 

"Squishy, your bath is ready. Hyung made sure to use your favorite bubble bath and fill it with rubber ducks." Chanhee tells Eric. 

Eric takes his bath and then is given tea before he is tucked into bed. 

"Eric, I know you might already know this, but I am going to tell you anyway. You are the most precious, talented, and sweetest maknae ever. Don't let anyone ever tell you any different, okay?" Jacob says, as he tucks Eric in. 

"Okay hyung." Eric smiles. 

Eric settles into his bed as his hyungs leave the room and he sleeps peacefully for the first time in a week. He is relieved to know that no matter if he messes up the dance or his lines, or both, his hyungs will always be there for him. 


	19. From One Maknae To Another

"Coming over to your dorm to play is so much fun." Eric says, as he grabs a card from the pile. 

"You know, we should go to your house one of these days." Eric's friend Jasper suggests. 

"It is further away from school than your dorm, but I'm sure you can come over when I ask my hyungs." Eric replies. 

"You can ask him today, when he comes to pick you up." 

"Alright."

Half an hour later, Jacob comes to pick Eric up. 

"Jacob hyung, can Jasper come over next week?" Eric asks.

"Well, as long as it is okay with his leader." Jacob says, turning to the guy who answered the door.

"Sure, whatever." 

"Okay. You two can hang out next week." 

Eric says bye to Jasper before leaving with Jacob. 

A week later, Eric and Jasper have their sleepover. When Eric returns home, he and his friend enjoy Eric's usual after school snack together. 

"Whoa. You get milk and cookies after school?"

"Yeah, don't you?"

"No, never. I just do my homework when I get home." Jasper answers. 

Thankfully, the two of them don't have any homework tonight, so they can get straight to playing video games. Eric surprisingly wins all of the video game matches. This has never happened to him before, he usually loses when he plays against anyone who is not Kevin. 

"I have never won this much in my life."

"Well, that's probably because I have never played this game before." 

"But I thought you had it."

"I do, but my hyungs don't really play with me. They're always busy doing something else and I don't want to bother them, so I never actually play the game."

"Boys, dinner." Jacob calls. 

"Whoa, we have been playing for that long already?"

"I guess so. Come on, let's go get ready for dinner."

Eric and Jasper wash their hands and sit with the boys at the table. Younghoon hands them their dinner plates. 

"Thank you." They both say. 

"You're welcome." He smiles. 

"Do you want some more vegetables?"

"But we already have so many vegetables on our plates." Eric whines. 

"I'll take some more."

"See Eric, your friend knows that veggies are good for him." Jaehyun says. 

"Well, I like meat better." Eric replies. 

After dinner, Juyeon helps Eric and Jasper build a fort in the living room. 

"Do you think Sangyeon hyung will let us sleep in this tonight?" Eric asks Juyeon. 

"Maybe. I will go ask him." Juyeon says, walking away as Eric and Jasper put more pillows and blankets inside. 

"Wow, your hyung makes really sturdy forts." 

"Yeah, Juyeon hyung is the best." Eric replies. 

"Guys, Sangyeon said you could sleep here tonight." Juyeon tells them. 

"Yay!"

Eric and Jasper read comic books and play phone games before having to get ready for bed. 

"Okay, Eric, it is the seventh. Time to do your nails." Chanhee says, entering the living room. 

"You get a manicure? I've always wondered what one was like." Jasper comments. 

"I could give you one too." Chanhee says. 

"Really?"

"Of course. I should get Jacob to brush your hair for you guys too." 

So, Jacob brushes Eric's hair and sings to him in English while Chanhee gives Jasper a manicure. When they are done, they switch. 

"Okay boys, time for bed now. Does anyone want some warm milk?" Sangyeon asks. 

"No, I'm good."

"Me too."

Jacob kisses their foreheads good night before leaving the fort with Sangyeon. 

When they wake up the next morning, Kevin and Changmin make breakfast for them before Sangyeon and Jacob drop them off at school. 

"Have fun at school kiddos." Sangyeon waves. 

As the two of them walk into school and to their lockers, Jasper brings something up. 

"Eric, you are so lucky."

"Why?"

"Your hyungs do so much for you. I wish mine made me after school snacks, built me forts, and brushed my hair while singing me foreign lullabies. Your hyungs really care about you." 

"Your hyungs don't do that for you?" Eric questions, he thought that all maknaes got treated like he does. 

"No. They barely notice me. I wish they would spend more time with me." 

"Well, maybe Jacob hyung has an idea on what you guys can do to be closer. We can ask him after school when he comes to pick me up." Eric says, closing his locker and walking to class with Jasper. 

When school is over, Eric and Jasper wait for Sangyeon and Jacob to show up. 

"Hyungs! We need your help with something." Eric announces, as they walk over. 

"What's wrong?"

"Can you help us? Jasper and his hyungs aren't really close and we wanted your help on changing that."

"Eric, you can't just make people close."

"Of course you can, we just need to find out why they aren't close. Let's go talk to them right now." Jacob says. 

"Now?"

"Yes." Jacob responds, dragging Eric and Jasper behind him.

When they get to the dorm, Jacob speaks with the group leader and asks him why he is not close with Jasper. 

"I don't know, he just seems very independent. I always thought he preferred to be alone most of the time."

"But I still want attention. We never hang out or do anything together besides perform. You guys are always working on your music. I just want to spend time with you guys once in a while." Jasper replies. 

The leader sits there, silent for a moment. 

"Maybe we don't spend enough time together now that I think about it. If you really want to, we can pick a day each week where we spend the whole day together, no music or homework in the way, just you and your six hyungs." The leader suggests. 

"I'd love that." 

Jasper thanks Jacob and Eric for helping him with his hyungs. Eric is happy to see Jasper get closer to having the hyungs that every maknae deserves. 


	20. Miss You

One evening, after finishing his homework, Eric decides to go see Juyeon. It feels like Eric has not seen him in forever with how busy Juyeon has been lately. Eric enters his room to see Juyeon packing, which he finds strange. They don't have to travel anywhere anytime soon, so what could he be packing for?

"Hey hyung, what's up?"

"Just packing."

"For what?" Eric asks. 

"To go to Japan. I have to host The Show over there." Juyeon explains. 

"What?! How long are you going to be gone for?"

"A few days, I leave tonight." 

"Noooo!" Eric whines, holding onto Juyeon. 

"But, I'll miss you. We haven't hung out in weeks." Eric adds. 

"I know, but we can hang out when I get back. I'm sure the few days will go by fast." Juyeon replies, patting Eric's head. 

When Juyeon leaves that night, Eric gives him a hug, but will not let go. 

"You have to let Juyeon go now, chum chum." Haknyeon tells Eric.

"But I don't want him to go." 

"We know, but he will only be gone for a few days. Now let go, we don't want him to be late." Sangyeon says, prying Eric off. 

"Don't worry, squishy, I will try to call you." Juyeon says. 

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Eric nods, feeling somewhat better knowing Juyeon will call.

For the rest of the night, Eric sits by the phone, waiting for it to ring.

"Eric, come on, it's time to start getting ready for bed." Chanhee says. 

"But what if hyung calls?"

"He is on a plane, he won't call yet, and the more you wait around the longer the wait will feel." 

Eric gives in and gets ready for bed. As he is laying in bed that night, Eric can't sleep. He just tosses and turns, so he asks Mr. Cuddlesworth what he should do.

"Mr. Cuddlesworth, I can't sleep."

"Why is that, Eric?"

"Because I miss Juyeon hyung. This is just like when Sangyeon hyung and Jacob hyung went on their honeymoon and they were gone for a week. I don't know what I should do to not miss him." Eric answers. 

"I got an idea! How about we sleep in Juyeon's bed tonight? It might make you feel better." Mr. Cuddlesworth suggests. 

"That's a good idea!"

Eric slips out of his bed and into Juyeon's. It does make him feel a bit better, and he finally gets some rest. 

The next day, Eric just lays on the couch in the living room, staring at the blank television. 

"Babykins, come on. I know you miss Juyeon, but you can still spend time with the rest of us." Jacob says. 

"Yeah. Do you not like us or something? Younghoon pouts. 

"No, I love all of you guys. I just relate to Juyeon the most. When I was little I always imagined having a brother, and Juyeon is just like the one in my imagination." Eric explains. 

"We understand. How about we each do something with you to keep your mind off things?" Sangyeon suggests. 

"Sure."

"I know a great way to start off the day, Changmin and I can pick out a cute outfit for you." Chanhee says. 

Eric allows them to go through his wardrobe. There are so many things to choose from, but the two of them end up picking a pair of shorts, and red baseball cap, and Eric's custom made 'I love my hyungs' sweater for him to wear. 

"Oh my gosh! You are too adorable, my little gummy bear." Jacob coos, pinching both of Eric's cheeks. 

"Thank you hyung."

"Now that you're dressed, do you want to run some errands with hyung?" Jacob asks. 

"Jacob, we are supposed to be cheering him up, not boring him." Kevin intervenes. 

"Fine. I will run my errands and come back so we can go to the park."

"Come on, squishy, let's go paint." Kevin says, leading Eric to the kitchen. 

Eric loves painting, especially finger painting. While Kevin paints an elaborate image with a brush, Eric paints sunflowers with his finger. 

"This is a masterpiece, Eric. I will hang it on the fridge when it dries." 

Eric smiles at the praise from his artistic hyung. 

The next activity for Eric is to go to the park, where he has fun playing hide-and-seek, catch, and tag with his members. 

Later that day, the boys decide to watch one of his favorite movies. Even though it is his favorite, Eric falls asleep before it is done. The boys all gush over how cute Eric looks, sitting on Jaehyun's lap and wearing matching pajamas with Mr. Cuddlesworth. So, of course they take photos before Jaehyun carries him to bed. 

When Eric wakes up in the morning, he doesn't feel as bad as yesterday, but he is still not completely happy. He misses Juyeon. Fortunately for him, Juyeon calls in the middle of the day. 

"Eric, phone call for you." Sunwoo says, handing Eric the phone. 

"Hello?"

"Hi, Eric. It's hyung." 

"Juyeon!" Eric exclaims, happy to hear his voice. 

"You called! You really called!"

"I promised you I would. So how are things going?"

"Good. The hyungs are giving me lots of attention, but I still miss you."

"I miss you and the boys too, but I will be back soon. Then I will take you to get some ice cream and play baseball with you. How does that sound?"

"That sounds so cool!" 

"Good. Now, be a good maknae to your hyungs. I know you are upset because all of us are usually always together, but the boys all love you and want you to be happy." Juyeon says. 

"I know."

"Okay, see you soon hyung." 

They both say bye to each other before hanging up. Eric smiles widely as he puts back the phone. 

"Someone looks really happy now." Changmin points out. 

"I am, Juyeon is coming soon and he is going to take me to play baseball and get ice cream." 

"I'm glad you are getting back to normal." 

Juyeon actually comes back sooner than expected. He returns in the middle of that night to see Eric asleep in his bed with Mr. Cuddlesworth. Juyeon is too tired to wake Eric up, and Eric looks too cute to wake up, so Juyeon just lays with him. 

When Eric wakes up in the morning, Juyeon is right next to him. 

"Hyung!!" Eric yells. 

Juyeon wakes up due to the outburst and Eric hugs him. 

"I missed you too, chum chum. In fact, I brought you a present." Juyeon says, once Eric lets go of him. 

"Close your eyes."

Eric covers his eyes with his hands. 

"Okay, open them now." 

Eric uncovers his eyes and sees that Juyeon is holding a blue teddy bear. 

"It's a teddy bear made out of a towel. They had them in the hotel room."

"This is so cool, I love teddy bears! Thank you Juyeon hyung." Eric replies, hugging Juyeon again. 

"I'm so glad you're back. Now all of us are together again." Eric smiles, happy that the group is now complete again. 


	21. Eric's Worst Nightmare

"Oww!" Eric exclaims, as he chews his piece of pork. 

"What's wrong chum chum?"

"My tooth hurts. I think something is wrong with it. It has been hurting since yesterday." Eric explains. 

"Since yesterday? We better take you to the dentist then." Sangyeon says. 

Eric freezes at hearing the word dentist. He hates that place, it is one of his biggest fears. Going to that place is a pain. Eric snaps out of his frozen state and now reacts to the news. 

"Nooo! Don't take me to the dentist!" Eric yells. 

"Don't worry, Eric. I'm sure all they will have to do is yank out your wisdom teeth. Just make sure to scream if you wake up during the procedure so they know to stop." Sunwoo teases. 

"Hyung." Eric cries out to Jacob, holding onto him. 

"Sunwoo, don't scare him like that." Jacob scolds. 

"I'm sorry, Eric. I was just joking. I'm sure your dentist visit will go well." Sunwoo assures. 

"I'm not going to any dentist." 

"Eric, you have to go so your tooth will stop hurting." Sangyeon says. 

"But it doesn't hurt anymore." Eric lies. 

Eric tries to chew a piece of meat, but the pain in his tooth stops him, causing him to wince. 

"Eric, stop doing that. We should just give you soft foods now. How about I blend up that meat for you instead?" Jacob says. 

"Ewww, no." Eric replies. 

"Okay, how about a yummy strawberry milkshake instead?"

Of course, Eric agrees to that, he would never turn down a milkshake. 

While Eric is distracted by the dessert, Sangyeon sets up an appointment with the dentist for Eric. Tomorrow morning will be the appointment. 

After finishing his drink, Eric goes to his room to vent about having to go to the dentist. 

"Sangyeon is such a jerk. He wants to take me to the dentist. What if they do pull my teeth out or something?"

Eric shivers at the thought. 

"I'm hiding when he takes me." Eric tells his bear before laying down in bed. 

Just then, Changmin enters the room. 

"Eric, I have a surprise for you." Changmin says, walking to Eric's bed. 

"It's Dr. Snuggles." Changmin adds, holding up the cold pack teddy bear. 

"Where is your boo boo? Is it on your knee? Or your tummy? Or your arm?" Changmin asks, using a voice for the bear. 

"No, my cheek. The tooth here."

"I know what to do. Kisses will make it better."

Changmin puts the bear by Eric's cheek and has it kiss him repeatedly. The movement makes Eric giggle. 

"Stop, that tickles." Eric laughs. 

"Okay. Here, this should make you feel a bit better." Changmin says, handing the bear over to Eric. 

"Thanks." Eric replies. holding the bear to his face. 

"If you need anything else, just call one of us." Changmin says, before leaving the room. 

The only thing Eric needs right now is a way to avoid the dentist. There is only one person he can turn to, the one person who can get Sangyeon to change his mind.... and that is Jacob. 

Eric goes to Jacob and Sangyeon's room and cuddles up to Jacob. 

"Hi, babykins. I see Dr. Snuggles came to pay you a visit." 

"Yeah, Changmin hyung brought him for me."

"That's nice of him. How are you feeling?"

"Horrible."

"What? Has the toothache gotten worse?" Jacob worries. 

"No. I'm upset that Sangyeon is making me go to the dentist. Hyung, can you make him change his mind? He is being such a meanie by making me go." 

"Eric, you have to go to the dentist to fix your tooth. Sangyeon isn't making you go to hurt you, he wants you to go because he loves you and wants you to get better. We all do, we don't like seeing you in pain." Jacob explains. 

"But I don't wanna go." Eric whines. 

"Squishy, I know you hate the dentist. I wish you didn't have to go. I wish I could take all your pain away like magic, but I can't. You have to go for your tooth to stop hurting and that is that. If you don't go, things will get worse and you'll be in more pain."

"Sangyeon is still a big meanie."

As if on cue, Sangyeon walks in seconds later. 

"Hi guys. Eric, how are you feeling?"

Eric turns away from Sangyeon, facing Jacob's chest instead. 

"He is a little cranky about you taking him to the dentist." Jacob informs Sangyeon. 

"Eric, I know how much you hate that place, but it is for your own good. I don't want giving us trouble when we had to take you in like last time."

"Meanie." Eric responds. 

Sangyeon doesn't know what else to say to change Eric's mind, so he just kisses the top of Eric's head before leaving the room. 

"Babykins, please don't be mad at Sangyeon. We just want your tooth to feel better." 

"But I don't want to go to the evil dentist."

"I know. Hopefully you'll understand when the pain goes away."

When Eric goes to bed that night, Jacob puts some medicine on his gums to ease the pain so Eric can sleep peacefully. He is still mad as Sangyeon and Jacob tuck him in. 

"Good night, Eric." Jacob says, giving Eric a raspberry kiss. 

"Good night, hyung." Eric replies, giving one back. 

"Good night, Eric." Sangyeon says. 

As Sangyeon is about to come close to Eric, he hides under his covers. 

"Eric, you don't want a good night kiss from hyungie?" 

"Not from you." 

"Alright, I understand. Sleep well, kiddo." Sangyeon says, leaving the room with Jacob. 

In the morning, Eric makes sure to get up early and hide under his bed so that they can't take him to the dentist. 

"Eric, wake up. We have to go to-" Sangyeon announces, entering the room. 

"Oh no." Sangyeon adds, once he sees that Eric is not in his bed. 

"What's wrong?" Chanhee asks Sangyeon. 

"Eric is gone. I knew this would happen. Time to go look for him."

Chanhee helps Sangyeon look for Eric in their room until they find him under the bed. 

"Eric, come out, it is time to go." Sangyeon says. 

"No!"

"Eric, stop being a little brat and come out." Chanhee tells him. 

"No! I'm staying here."

"Eric we can either do this the easy way or the hard way." Sangyeon informs his maknae. 

Eric sticks his tongue out in response. 

"I guess we have picked the hard way." 

The hard way involves Jaehyun and Juyeon helping Sangyeon pull Eric out from under the bed. It includes a lot of kicking and screaming, but they do get him out. Once he is out, Sangyeon carries him to the car. 

"Put me down! Let go of me!" Eric whines, trying to squirm out of Sangyeon's hold. 

Sangyeon manages to get Eric to the car and buckle him in. Eric sits with his arms crossed and the biggest pout ever. 

Eric is silent the whole ride there, having accepted his fate at this point. When they do reach the dentist, Sangyeon has to carry Eric into the building because he will not move. 

The coldness that Eric had for Sangyeon before changes as soon as they step foot in the office. He clings to Sangyeon as they sit in the waiting room. 

"Eric, it is okay. The appointment will go by fast." 

When Eric's name is called, he holds onto Sangyeon even tighter and his legs start to tremble. Sangyeon strokes his hair to calm him down and holds his hand. 

"Eric, it's okay. Would you be okay if I went with you?"

Eric nods. 

Sangyeon helps Eric get up and leads him to the room. There, they find out that Eric has a cavity and that it could be now or they could come back later.

"Eric, I think you should just get it over with now. Then you don't have to worry about any of this later." Sangyeon suggests, hoping Eric will agree because he does not want to drag Eric here a second time. 

"O-okay. I'll get it done now." Eric agrees. 

Eric has his cavity without much problems. It really helps that Sangyeon is there and holding his hand. Eric does not know how he would have managed if he were alone. 

When the cavity is taken care of, it is time to go back home. 

"Hyung?" Eric says on the ride back home. 

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for taking me to the dentist and going with me even though I was mean to you. I'm sorry I acted like I did earlier."

"That's alright. I know how scared you are of the dentist, so I expected it. I'm just glad your tooth is all better." Sangyeon smiles. 

Eric is relieved that his tooth does not hurt anymore, looks like Jacob was right. Eric really is thankful to have such a great leader. 


	22. Look At Me!

After Eric finishes cleaning his room one afternoon, he becomes bored. He has completed his homework and done all his chores, so he decides to go look for one of the members to hang out with. The first hyungs that Eric runs into are Sangyeon and Jacob, who are sitting together at the kitchen table. 

"Hi guys." Eric greets them. 

"Look, our maknae is here." Sangyeon smiles. 

"Hey, babykins! Come sit on hyung's lap." Jacob says. 

Eric runs over and sits on Jacob's lap.

"What are you guys doing?" Eric asks. 

"We're making a wedding scrapbook." Jacob answers. 

"Yeah, we got this as a wedding gift and still haven't done it. We're trying to finish it before our anniversary next week." Sangyeon adds. 

"Gummy bear, look at this photo of you spreading the flowers down the aisle. Awww, you were the cutest flower boy ever." Jacob points out, pinching Eric's cheek. 

"And there's Teddy and Bear carrying the rings." Eric says, pointing to the photo of the two dogs. 

"Hyungs, when can I come to your house and see them again?" Eric adds. 

"Probably in a couple of days." Jacob replies, as he glues a photo to the page. 

"Can I help?" Eric asks. 

"Well, I don't know about that squishy. We don't want you getting stuck like when you made paper butterflies and glued yourself to the table." Sangyeon responds. 

Eric remembers that it took them a while to get him off the table. 

"How about you go see what the rest of the boys are doing? I'm sure they can't all be busy." Jacob suggests. 

"Okay, bye hyungs." Eric says, leaving the kitchen. 

Eric goes to see what Juyeon is up to. He enters his room to see him with Jaehyun and Younghoon. They are all laying on the wearing facial masks and have cucumber slices over their eyes. 

"Juyeon hyung! I'm bored. Wanna hang out?"

"Sorry, squishy. We're busy right now." Juyeon replies. 

"Yeah, we are getting facials." Jaehyun adds. 

"But hyungs." Eric whines. 

"Eric, we have to leave the masks on for half an hour." 

"Fine." 

Eric leaves the room. Well, there goes three members. The next target is Kevin. 

"Kevin hyung, are you busy?"

"Yeah, I'm in the middle of painting."

"Can you stop to hang out for just a bit?" Eric asks, as Kevin continues to paint. 

"Sorry, Eric. I'm really in the zone right now." 

On to the next member, Chanhee. Eric finds him with Changmin. 

"Sorry, Eric we are busy practicing." Chanhee tells him, after Eric asks if they are busy. 

Of course, the main vocal and the main dancer are working on their strengths. 

Now onto Eric's last chance, his fellow maknaes. 

He finds them in Haknyeon's room. 

"Hey guys! Who wants to play some video games?"

"Not now, Eric. I'm helping Sunwoo with his homework right now." 

Well, that is it. Eric has gone through everyone in the house and they are all busy doing something. He drags his feet back to his room, defeated. 

"Everyone is busy, now what am I supposed to do? Oh! I can pretend to be hurt. Then they will all come running to me." Eric thinks. 

So Eric goes to the living room and pretends to trip and fall. 

"Owww! I fell down. I think my knee is broken!" Eric exclaims. 

Silence. 

"I said, I fell and broke my knee." 

More silence. 

"Owww! Come on people, I have broken bones here!" 

"Eric, we know you are lying. You would be screaming more than that if you actually got hurt." Sangyeon says, from the kitchen. 

Eric pouts before stomping back to his room. 

"Man, this is so boring. I wish I still had Kevin's box." Eric says to himself, as he throws himself onto his bed. 

Eric thinks back to the times he spent with the box. 

Eric was sitting in the living room watching television when he heard the door bell ring. 

"I got it! I got it!" Kevin exclaimed, running to the door.

Kevin opened the door to reveal a very large box, a box that was just as tall as him. After signing for said package, he dragged it into the living room to open it. 

"This is a pretty big box just for an easel." Kevin stated, as he opened the box up and took out the item. 

Eric looked over in amazement at the packing peanut filled box. 

"Whoa, this box is so huge."

Kevin takes note of Eric's amazement. 

"Do you want this box, squishy?" Kevin asks. 

Eric turns to Kevin with the biggest smile on his face before begging him to give him the box. 

"Okay, okay. You can have the box."

"Really? You're the best hyung ever!" Eric replies, hugging Kevin. 

"I try." Kevin responds. 

Eric jumps into the box like it is a pool and begins to swim in it. This box is even huger than he thought. For a whole week, Eric swims in the packing peanuts, hides in the box, and has his hyungs push him around the box. Then, the worst thing happens.... recycling day. Sangyeon has Eric give up his box so that they can recycle it. 

If only he still had that box, at least he would have something to do now. 

Eric really does not know what else to do, so he just crosses his arms and stares at his wall. After a while of doing this, his hyungs enter his room. 

"Squishy, get up." Jaehyun says, as he enters the room. 

Eric continues to lay with his arms crossed.

"Are you mad at us?" Sunwoo asks. 

Silence. 

"I know how to get through to him." Juyeon says, before tickling Eric. 

Eric cannot hold back the laughs, so his frown immediately turns to a smile. 

"Hyung, stop it." Eric giggles. 

"There's that precious little smile." Jacob comments. 

Juyeon stops tickling Eric so that he can sit up. 

"Are you guys still busy?" Eric asks, hoping the answer is no. 

"No, we're all yours now. So what do you want to do?"

"Can we watch a movie and then play unicorn candy land?" Eric suggests. 

"Of course we can. In fact, do you know someone who would like a piggy back ride to the living room?" Sangyeon responds. 

"Oh! Me, me, me!" Eric exclaims, with his hand up. 

"Hop on, kiddo." Sangyeon replies, gesturing for Eric to get on his back. 

Sangyeon carries Eric to the living room and places him on the couch, but then Younghoon sits next to him, so he climbs over to sit on Younghoon's lap. 

"Your hair smells like cotton candy, squishy." Younghoon comments. 

"I love cotton candy. Hyungs, can we have candy during the movie?" Eric says. 

"Sure."

Changmin goes to get some candy, and hands it to Eric when he gets back.

"Thank you, hyung."

Now this is the life. Eric's gets to watch his favorite movie, eat some yummy candy, and be with all of his hyungs at once. Yup, he really loves his life as their maknae. 


	23. Halloween High Jinks

"Eric, stop licking the frosting off the cupcakes!" Kevin scolds Eric, taking the cupcake away from him before he can lick it. 

"But why? It's not like I'm eating them." Eric responds. 

"You might as well, I don't think the rest of us want to eat cupcakes covered in your spit." 

"Why not?"

"Because it's gross. I know Jacob doesn't want you to have too much sweets, but why don't you just take the four cupcakes you licked and go read some scary stories or do some other Halloween related activity." Kevin suggests. 

"I like that idea." Eric agrees. 

"That was your plan this whole time, wasn't it?" 

"Yes."

Kevin smiles at Eric and pinches his cheek before telling him to run off and have fun. 

"Thank you, hyung." Eric says, before going off to his room with the cupcakes. 

Once he is in his room, Eric decides to go on the internet and read some scary stories. 

Usually, these stories do not scare Eric, but this time he finds a particularly scary one. 

The story is about a killer called Garlic Man. He started off slaying evil vampires, but he soon became evil himself and now he kills humans. You know he is coming when the scent of garlic hits your nose. Then he will kill his victims with a hatchet. 

"I need to take my mind off this. Some candy should do the trick." Eric says to himself. 

Eric goes to the kitchen and takes a handful of candy to his room. After eating those twenty pieces of candy, Eric has a sugar rush and starts running around the house. He eventually runs into Sunwoo, who knows exactly what is going on. 

"Eric, I hope you didn't eat out all the candy already." Sunwoo states. 

"No, I did not. Hey, wanna play tag with me or something?" Eric asks, while jumping up and down. 

"With you hopped up on candy? I'd rather not." 

"Suit yourself." Eric responds, running down the hallway. 

Eric tries to find one of the boys to hang out with, but since they know he is hopped up on candy they know his energy levels will be even harder to keep up with than usual, so Eric just ends up running around in circles until he falls asleep. 

During his candy coma, Eric has a terrible nightmare. 

Eric hears an alarm go off and wakes up to realize that he fell asleep in one of the rooms at the company. The alarm tells him that he is late for practice, so he quickly gets up and runs to the practice room.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm-" 

Eric enters the room to see a blood bath. All of his members are laying around the rooms, surrounded by pools of blood and they have blood coming from their heads. With how gruesome the scene is, Eric thinks this has to be a very realistic music video shoot or something like that. 

"Okay guys, you can stop playing around now." Eric says aloud, in denial that something is obviously wrong. 

"Guys, come on. Wake up." Eric repeats, this time with tears in his eyes. 

Suddenly, the scent of garlic begins to hit Eric's nose. He now understands what is going on. The scent gets stronger and stronger until Eric feels a presence behind him. He turns around to see Garlic Man holding his hatchet and smiling wickedly. Before Eric can even react, he strikes him with the hatchet and the next thing Eric sees is pitch black and he is unconscious. 

When Eric does regain consciousness, he still sees black, even with his eyes open. 

"Where am I?" He thinks. 

Since it is just darkness around Eric, he tries to feel what his surroundings might be. All he feels is wood around him, and he can't move his arms or legs around too much. It is like he is trapped in a wooden box, so he hits the top of the box in an attempt to open it up. After a couple of hits, dirt comes down onto Eric's face. This makes Eric stop and piece things together. Wooden box, dirt, darkness. He has been buried alive!

"Help!" Eric yells, hoping someone will hear him. 

Eric knows the chances of anyone hearing him from underground are very slim, but there is not much else he can do. Suddenly, Eric remembers what happens to the rest of the boys, and gets a vivid image of exactly what he saw. He is buried alive and his hyungs are gone, these are two of the absolute worst things that could happen to Eric. With nothing else to do, and feeling very emotional and terrified, Eric continues to scream for help while sobbing. 

"Help!!!"

"Please!! Help me!!!"

"Eric, wake up!" Eric can hear someone call. 

"Wake up!"

Eric's eyes shoot open and he sees that Jacob is standing over him, with a worried expression on his face. 

"Eric, are-" Jacob starts off, but he is cut off by Eric hugging him tightly and sobbing loudly. 

"Hyung, I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm more worried about you, babykins." Jacob says, rubbing Eric's back to calm him down. 

"Where are the rest of the hyungs?" Eric asks. 

"We're watching a movie in the living room." Jacob answers. 

Eric runs to the living room, he needs to see everyone and make sure it was all just a dream. When Eric enters the room, he lets out a sigh of relief and starts crying again. 

"Eric, what's wrong?" Jaehyun asks. 

Within seconds, all the boys are around Eric and trying to find out what happened while also comforting him. 

Eric describes his dream to them and it makes him sob even harder. 

"I was so scared that I lost you guys. It felt so real." 

"Come here, squishy." Younghoon says, with his arms out. 

Eric jumps into his hyungs arms and holds onto him tightly. 

The boys have never seen Eric this scared before, so they know he really needs them right now and they are willing to do anything to help him feel better. They decide to give Eric chamomile tea and watch his favorite unicorn movie with him in the living room. They also pass Eric around like a newborn baby and take turns holding him and comforting him. 

Eric really likes that they did this for him, being with each of them individually lets him confirm that each and every one of the members are alive and well, which means his nightmare was nothing more than just a really bad dream. 

"I'm sorry, Eric. I shouldn't have let you have all those cupcakes, I should have known it was bad for you." Kevin tells Eric, when it is his turn to hold him. 

"It's not your fault hyung, I love those cupcakes. I also kinda had some candy after that." Eric admits.

By the time Eric gets to his last member, Sunwoo, he is starting to fall asleep. In fact, he ends up falling asleep with his head laying on Sunwoo's chest. 

"Awww, look, Eric is drooling on Sunwoo's shirt." Changmin states. 

Usually Sunwoo would be disgusted by this and wake Eric up, but since Eric is now sleeping peacefully after having a terrible nightmare, Sunwoo lets it slide and pats Eric's back. Eric snuggles closer to Sunwoo in response and smiles. 

"Awww, look at our cute 2000s babies. I need to take a picture." Jacob announces. 

Jacob quickly takes a picture with his phone and then suggests that they all go to sleep, since it is getting late and Eric has finally fallen back asleep. 

"Maybe we should all sleep out here, in case Eric wakes up again." Haknyeon suggests. 

Since that is a great idea, the boys agree and end up sleeping in the living room together. 

When Eric wakes up the next morning, he finds the rest of the members in the kitchen. 

"Eric, you woke up just in time. We were just about to wake you so you could have your favorite breakfast." Chanhee says, as Eric enters the kitchen. 

"Here, munchkin, you can sit on hyung's lap." Juyeon tells Eric. 

Eric sits on his hyungs lap and then his favorite breakfast is placed in front of him. 

"Waffles stuffed with ice cream and whipped cream?! And a side of bacon?! Wait, why? It's not my birthday or anything." Eric responds. 

"We know, we just want to make sure you're okay after that dream you had last night. We've never seen you so scared and we just wanted to make sure you're happy again, so we made your favorite breakfast." Sangyeon explains. 

"Thanks guys, I'm okay. Once we all spent time together in the living room I felt better. Thanks for that, I really needed you guys." 

"No problem squishy, we will always be there for you no matter what." Jacob says, ruffling Eric's hair. 

"Now eat up. We are going to spend the whole day with you, starting with taking you to the zoo." Juyeon says, feeding Eric his waffle. 

Eric smiles widely, both because he is eating his most favorite breakfast and because he will be spending the day with his ten most favorite people in the world. 


	24. Crush

Eric has not told anyone this, but for the past few months, he has had a huge crush on a boy in his class named Joon. Eric thinks he is the most beautiful guy in his entire school. He is just as tall as Eric, has smooth jet black hair, and the most gentle and kind smile Eric has ever seen in his life. Eric knows that people always say that Jacob is an angel, but Eric thinks that those people have never seen Joon. So when Eric gets paired with Joon for a school project, he is over taken with emotions. He is happy, nervous, and very excited to be able to spend some time with Joon even if it is just for school. He has talked with him before, not much since they only have one class together. This project is Eric's one and only chance to make Joon like him. 

"So do you want to meet up after school some time this week to go over the project?" Joon asks him, after class. 

"Oh my gosh, yes, I would love that so much! You can come over to my house." Eric says, a little too excitedly. 

"You really are excited about this project." Joon giggles. 

Eric loves that cute giggle, to him everything about Joon is cute. 

"Yeah, I love science." Eric replies, trying to play it cool. 

"Okay, how about this Friday?" Joon suggests. 

"That's perfect, I'll see you Friday after school." Eric replies. 

"Alright. See you later, Eric." Joon waves. 

"Bye." Eric replies. 

Eric watches Joon walk away and once he has turned the corner, Eric does a little victory dance. His crush is coming over to his house this Friday. Score! Wait, he has to do everything he can to make Joon like him. Looks like he will need to ask for some help with this matter, he needs his hyungs. So he decides to go to Jacob and Sangyeon for help since the two of them are married, they are the best members for this type of advice. 

After dinner that night, Eric finds Sangyeon and Jacob in their room watching television together. 

"Hyungs, can I talk to you about something?" Eric says, once he enters their room. 

"You can talk to us about anything, babykins." 

Sangyeon and Jacob move over so Eric can sit in between them. 

"So, what do you want to talk about, kiddo?" Sangyeon questions. 

"Well, there is this boy at school." Eric begins. 

"Ohh, sounds like someone has a crush." Sangyeon says. 

"Awww, our little maknae has a crush. What's his name?" Jacob adds. 

"His name is Joon, and he is so kind and pretty. I've had a crush on him for months now and I got paired with him in a school project. He's coming over this Friday so we can work on it together, and I just wanted to ask you guys for some help on what I should do that day so that he likes me." Eric explains. 

"Well, Eric, the best thing you can do is to be your cute, sweet self." Jacob advises. 

"What? Hyung, you are such a mom." Eric responds. 

"Jacob is right, squishy. If you be yourself then you will know if you and Joon are really meant to be." Sangyeon replies. 

"Okay, but what if he thinks I'm lame and doesn't like me?" Eric worries. 

"Lame? Eric, that is the exact opposite of what you are. You are the nicest, cutest, funniest, and coolest in the world." Jacob states, before he and Sangyeon attack Eric with a double tickle monster. 

"Hyungs, stop it." Eric laughs, as they tickle him. 

They eventually do stop and help Eric sit back up. 

"There is that smile that everyone loves." Sangyeon comments. 

"I bet that smile is enough to win Joon over. So stop worrying so much, you don't want to end up like Kevin and his obsession with Hyungwon." 

"Hey, I heard that!" Kevin says as he passes by. 

"We didn't mean it in a bad way." 

"Think whatever you want, but Hyungwon will be mine one day." Kevin says, before leaving. 

"Then hyung, what way did you mean it?" Eric questions. 

"I just meant that if you really like Joon you should ask him out instead of obsessing over him for months."

"Okay hyung, I'll be confident." Eric replies. 

The next day, Eric decides to hang out with Joon during lunch at school. Instead of focusing solely on the project, they get to know each other pretty well. 

"Oh my gosh, you like baseball too?" Eric asks. 

"Yeah, it's my favorite sport. I've been playing it with my dad since I was five." Joon answers. 

"Do you like video games too?"

"Of course, especially ones with aliens."

"You are so cool!" Eric exclaims, happy to have so much in common with his crush. 

At this moment, Eric can now confirm that Joon is perfect. He cannot wait for Friday, he plans to have a boyfriend by the end of the day. 

When Friday comes, Eric and Joon walk to Eric's house together after school.

"You have ten hyungs? What's that like?" Joon asks, as they walk.

"It's pretty fun. There's always someone to hang out with whenever I want to. Sometimes they baby me too much though." Eric replies. 

"Well how can they not? You are so cute." Joon says, pinching Eric's cheek lightly. 

This causes Eric to blush and giggle. Hopefully, Joon did not notice that. 

Once the two of them get to the dorm, he is greeted by Younghoon. Eric made sure to tell his hyungs not to baby him in front of Joon, so he is hoping they keep their promise this afternoon. 

"You boys are here. We cleared the kitchen table so you would have plenty of space to work on your project." Younghoon tells them. 

"Thanks hyung." Eric responds, leading Joon to the kitchen. 

The two of them sit at the kitchen table and begin to talk about their project.

"Do you have anything that you want to do for the project?" Eric questions. 

"I was thinking we could do something about the solar system, if you want to." Joon suggests. 

"Yeah, that would be fun. Let's look up some information and see what we can find." 

Joon nods and takes out his laptop. Eric wants to get closer to Joon, so he makes something up. 

"Oh man, my laptop is dead. Can I just read off yours's?" Eric asks. 

"Sure." Joon replies. 

Eric scoots over to Joon and they look up information for their project together. 

"Oh, let's focus on Jupiter!" Eric suggests. 

"That sounds like a great idea." 

Over the next couple of hours, Eric and Joon get a large portion of their project done. They have to stop around six o'clock though, because Joon's parents are here to pick him up. 

"I had fun working with you today, Eric." Joon smiles. 

"Me too. I never knew Jupiter could be so interesting."

"I guess I'll see you at school on Monday."

"Yeah." Eric replies. 

Just as Joon is about to turn around and leave, Eric suddenly calls out to him.

"Joon, wait. Before you go, I want to ask you something."

"Yes, Eric?"

"I.... I really like you, and I mean more than just a friend. I've had a crush on you for months now and now that I've gotten to know you even more, I like you even more. Will.... will you go out with me?" 

Joon just stands there silent for a moment, making Eric even more nervous. I hopes that he will not reject him. 

"Me? Really? You want me to be your boyfriend?"

Eric nods in response. 

"Oh my gosh, yes! A million times yes!" Joon replies, hugging Eric. 

"Really?"

"Yes. I've had a crush on you for a while too, Eric. I've always thought you are so cute, cool, and funny since I first saw you." Joon explains. 

"Oh, Eric, you've made me so happy. I can't wait to write about this in my diary. I'll see on Monday morning, boyfriend." Joon adds, kissing Eric's cheek before leaving. 

"See you, boyfriend." Eric says, smiling widely at hearing himself say those words. 


	25. First Date

"Guys! This is an emergency!" Eric exclaims, as soon as he enters the dorm. 

"What's wrong?" Chanhee asks, as the rest of the boys all gather around Eric.

"Are you hurt?"

"Are you in danger?"

"Eric, tell us! The suspense is killing us." Sangyeon says. 

"I need help picking out what to wear on my first date." Eric responds. 

The boys now calm down, and give Eric somewhat annoyed looks. 

"That is the emergency?"

"What, I really don't know what to wear and I'm nervous. I've never been on a date before." Eric explains. 

"I know the perfect outfit for you Eric. You could wear your blue sweater with the teddy bear on it, that goes with everything." Jacob suggests. 

"That sweater? Shouldn't he look cool on his date?" Jaehyun brings up. 

"Well, yes, but he should also look like the little gentleman that he is." Jacob replies, pinching Eric's cheek.

"But he should still look really cool. He should have someone his age help him pick out something nice, the rest of you are too old to understand. Come on, Eric, I'll help you pick an outfit." Sunwoo says, going with Eric to his room. 

When Sunwoo is finished with him, Eric comes out wearing a simple outfit. Black pants, a mint colored shirt, and a black jacket. 

"You look nice, kiddo. Are you ready for Jacob and me to drive you for your date?" Sangyeon asks, as Eric puts his shoes on. 

"Yeah. let's go."

"Don't forget the flowers, gummy bear." Jacob says, handing Eric the bouquet of flowers. 

"It was so sweet of you to get these for Joon." Jacob adds. 

"Well, Sangyeon hyung always gets you flowers so I figured it would be a good idea."

"It was a great idea." Jacob tells him, as they exit the dorm. 

The three of them walk down to the parking lot and Sangyeon drives Eric to Joon's house. 

"Okay squishy, you can do this." Sangyeon encourages, once they arrive at the house. 

Eric nods, taking the flowers and going up to the house to ring the doorbell. 

"Hi, Eric." Joon says, hugging Eric.

"Hi, Joon. I got these flowers for you." Eric replies. 

"They're beautiful. Just let me put them in some water real quick and then we can go."

When Joon comes back from putting the flowers away, he holds Eric's hand and the two of them walk to the car. Once they buckle their seatbelts, Sangyeon drives to the arcade.

"We will be back in one hour to pick you boys up, so have fun." Jacob tells them. 

"But not too much fun." Sangyeon jokes, before the two of them drive off. 

"Come on, Joonie, let's go play some games!" Eric exclaims, taking Joon's hand. 

"Joonie? I like that name, I'm gonna call you Ricky then. Those can be our couple names." 

"I like that." Eric responds, as he opens the door for Joon. 

Once inside, the two of them begin to play arcade games. The first thing they play together is whack a mole. 

"Wow, Joon, you are really fast." Eric comments, as he tries to keep up with Joon's pace. 

Eric tries to keep up as best as he can, but Joon ends up hitting most of the moles. 

"Look at all the tickets we got."

"Yeah, all thanks to you, Joonie."

"Oh, Ricky, that's not true. You helped too. How about we play air hockey next? It looks like fun."

Eric actually ends up beating Joon at that and getting ten tickets. 

"What do you want to do next?" Joon asks Eric. 

"How about we go to the pizza buffet? I'm kinda hungry." Eric replies. 

"Alright." Joon says, holding onto Eric's hand. 

During their time at the buffet, Eric realizes that Joon sure can eat a lot. He eats just like his Haknyeon hyung, maybe even more than Haknyeon does. When Eric is pretty much full, Joon is still eating several pieces of pizza.

"Joonie, you sure can eat a lot." Eric comments. 

"Oh, I'm sorry." Joon replies, thinking he should mind his manners. 

"No, it's a good thing. I like a guy that likes to eat, I love eating." Eric explains, smiling at his boyfriend. 

"You wanna go to the ice cream machine after I finish this and make a big sundae that we can share?" Joon suggests. 

"Yes! Let's put lots of cookies and sprinkles on it."

Once Joon finishes his pizza, the two of them head to the ice cream machine and fill a bowl with vanilla and chocolate ice cream before adding a bunch of toppings, such as sprinkles, hot fudge, cookies, and whipped cream. 

Just as they are about to finish the sundae, Eric's watch goes off. 

"What? We only have half an hour left already?" Eric states. 

"Then we better hurry and get in as many games as possible." Joon responds, before he grabs Eric to lead him back to the game center. 

For the remainder of their time together, the two of them play as many games as possible in order to obtain a lot of tickets. 

They have about five minutes left when they get to the prize area. 

"What would be a good prize to get, Ricky?"

"I'm not su-" 

Eric stops in his tracks when his eyes meet a cute cat plush wearing a party hat.

"Oh my gosh, this toy is so cute." 

"You like it? We could spend the tickets on it, we have just enough."

"We can't spend all the tickets on me though."

"Why not? You got me those beautiful flowers, I want to give you something in return." Joon says. 

"Well, since you did get most of the tickets, I guess it is up to you what we get."

"Which means we are getting this cat for you." Joon smiles. 

Eric smiles too, glad that his boyfriend is getting him such a cute gift. 

After exchanging the tickets for the cat, it is now time to take Joon back home. When they get there, Eric walks Joon to his front door. 

"Thanks for taking me out tonight, Eric. I had a lot of fun." Joon says. 

"Me too. I just wish we could have spent more time together, I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I understand that you have morning practice tomorrow." Joon replies. 

"I'm not busy next weekend though, is next Friday alright for you?"

"You're the one in a boyband, not me. Any time that is good for you is good for me, Ricky." Joon answers, holding both of Eric's hands. 

Eric looks at Joon, and then at his lips. He wonders if what he is about to ask him will be okay. 

"Joonie, can I kiss you?" Eric questions, still holding hands with Joon. 

"Oh, Eric I thought you'd never ask. Of course you can kiss me." 

"Yes!" Eric mentally exclaims. 

Eric leans in and places a kiss on Joon's lips. After what feels like only a second to Eric, they separate. 

"Good night, Ricky." Joon says, hugging Eric. 

"Good night, Joonie." Eric replies, before Joon goes inside his house. 

"Oh my gosh, I got to kiss my crush!" Eric exclaims, once he is back in the car with his hyungs. 

"Awww, our little maknae just had his first date and his first kiss with his first boyfriend. He's growing up so fast." Jacob comments, as Sangyeon starts driving. 


	26. Just One Day

Eric has been dating Joon for about five months now, and he absolutely loves it. The two of them don't get to spend every single day together outside of school, but they work around Eric's schedule and try to spend as much time together as possible. One Thursday, Eric is free for a little while after school, so he decides that he and Joon should have a picnic at the park. 

The two of them walk to the park hand in hand after school, where they meet Haknyeon. 

"You two have fun. Don't forget, Eric, you have to be at the company by four o'clock." Haknyeon says, handing Eric the picnic basket. 

"I know hyung, I have my watch set to go off later." Eric replies, taking the basket. 

"Alright, see you later." Haknyeon nods, before walking off to the company. 

"Come on, Joonie. Let's go to that hill over there." 

Joon follows Eric to said hill and the two of them set up the picnic blanket before sitting down together. 

"Joonie, I'm so excited for you to see the lunch that I packed, I made most of it myself. Except for the cookies, I needed a little help with that." Eric admits. 

"Well, I'm sure that it will be great since you made it." Joon compliments. 

"I made a salad with lettuce, ham, cucumbers, and bacon. I also made these cute little peanut butter and jelly sandwich bites on a stick." 

Eric hands Joon his bowl of salad and the peanut butter and jelly kabobs. The kabob has a sandwich cut into small squares, banana slices, and grapes on it. 

"Ricky, these little kabobs are so cute. You know how much I love peanut butter." 

"And here is your juice box." 

"Thank you, Ricky. This picnic was so sweet of you."

"I'm just glad we could spend a little time together. I love being with you." Eric responds, holding Joon closely and kissing the top of his head. 

After eating their lunch, the two of them decide to go on the playground together. 

"Race you down the slide!" Eric exclaims, as he runs over to it. 

"Hey, you cheater! You got a head start!" Joon calls after him. 

Eric is far ahead and just about to get to the stairs leading up to the slide, when he hears Joon call out to him. 

"Eric, help! I fell!" 

Eric, seeing his boyfriend on the floor, immediately runs over to check on him. 

"Joonie, are you okay?" Eric asks. 

All of a sudden, Joon takes Eric's arm and pulls him down to the ground before running off. Eric lays there in shock before getting up and running to beat Joon to the slide. He just does not have enough time, and Joon makes it down the slide before Eric even arrives. 

"Hey, you set me up." Eric says, once he catches up with Joon at the bottom of the slide. 

"I know, but you cheated first with your head start." Joon points out. 

"I guess you have a point. Since we are running around like this, do you want to play tag?" Eric asks. 

"Tag, you're it." Joon answers, running away. 

"Get back here!" Eric yells, chasing after him. 

Eric has to admit, even though he has so much energy, Joon is really fast. Well, he is on the track team so that would explain things. Unfortunately for Eric, he does not end up catching Joon until he gets tired. 

"Okay, Eric. I think that is enough tag, I won anyway." Joon says, now back at the picnic blanket. 

Instead of giving in, Eric runs into Joon and causes the two of them to fall down together. 

"I got you." Eric brags. 

"Alright, alright. It looks like you won, so you get a special prize." 

"What do I win?"

"A kiss." Joon replies, leaning in closer to touch his lips to Eric's. 

Eric is surprised for a few seconds before kissing Joon back, which lasts a good while. 

The only reason they stop is because Eric's watch goes off, beeping loudly. 

"We only have five minutes left. What do you want to do before we leave?" Eric states. 

"How about we just hang out on the swings?" Joon suggests. 

Eric nods in agreement and the two of them pack up the picnic materials before going over to the swings, where they look at the scenery and talk. 

"For our next date we could go bowling together." Eric blurts out. 

"I've never been bowling before, it looks like fun though. I can't wait to go with you, my cutie wutie Ricky." Joon responds. 

"Joonie, you sound like my hyungs." Eric whines. 

"I'm sorry you're just so cute." 

"And you're absolutely beautiful."

"Ricky, stop it." Joon giggles. 

"I mean it, you're like my prince. A prince from a fairytale."

Eric's watch beeps again, indicating that they now have one minute left. 

"Come on, let's start walking back to the entrance." Eric says, with his hand out for Joon. 

Joon accepts and they stroll back to the gate. 

"Thanks so much for taking me on this picnic, Eric. This was so romantic of you. I can't wait for our next date." 

"Me neither. Text me when you get home, alright?"

"I will. See you at school tomorrow." Joon responds. 

"See you, Joonie." Eric says, before giving Joon a quick good bye kiss. 

They go their separate ways and Eric walks to the company with one of the biggest smiles in the world on his face. Eric really cherishes his dates with Joon, he loves having a boyfriend like him in his life. 


	27. It's Over

"We need to talk." 

That's the text that Eric gets from Joon one day at school during study hall. He has seen enough movies to know that this text is most likely not going to lead to good news. Eric is an optimistic guy though, so he holds onto the small chance that this will not lead to something negative. 

Eric meets Joon later at lunch, in their usual spot. As soon as he sits down, he notices how upset Joon looks. 

"Joonie, what's wrong?" Eric questions, holding onto Joon's hand. 

"Ricky, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I..." Joon begins, but he pauses for a moment. 

"Joon, it's alright. You can tell me anything." 

"I'm.... moving. And I won't see you again for a few years." 

"What?!" Eric replies, shocked. 

"My dad got a job overseas, so we have to move. We'll be over there for at least four years. And we leave tomorrow morning." Joon explains. 

"Does.... does this mean it's over?"

"I don't know. I guess. I mean, how can we have a long distance relationship for four years? I don't know, what do you think?" 

"I agree with you. Having a long distance relationship for that long would be hard. We wouldn't get to go on dates, kiss, or hug like we do now. It just wouldn't be the same." Eric answers truthfully. 

"I'll miss you." Joon says, hugging Eric tightly and now crying. 

"I'll miss you too." Eric replies, hugging Joon. 

When they stop hugging, Eric sees the tears streaming down Joon's face and wants to break down with him. However, he chooses to hold back and comfort him instead. Eric wipes Joon's tears and comes up with a great idea. 

"How about we make a promise to each other?"

"Like what?"

"When you come back to Korea, if both of us are still single we should start dating again. We could pick up where we left off." Eric suggests. 

"I love that idea." Joon responds, linking his pinky with Eric's in agreement. 

"Riiiiinngggg!" Goes the bell indicating that lunch is now over.

"Meet me at my locker after school so we can walk out together one last time." Joon says, kissing Eric before leaving for class. 

During the rest of his classes, all Eric can think about is having to say goodbye to Joon. He doesn't want to, but there is nothing that he can do. Joon will be gone tomorrow morning no matter what. When his last class finishes, Eric walks to Joon's locker to meet him. 

"Ready to go?" Joon asks, once Eric comes over. 

"No, I'll never be. I don't want you to go."

"I know, I wish there was something I could do so we could be together." Joon replies, hugging Eric. 

"Can we kiss one last time?" Eric brings up. 

Joon stops hugging Eric and kisses him. They make sure that it is a long, sweet kiss since it will be their last one. Following the kiss, they share a long, tight hug. 

"Unfortunately, we have to get going now. My dad is here to pick me up and we have to finish packing." Joon reluctantly announces, slowly breaking the hug. 

Upon hearing those words, Eric starts to tear up a little bit. 

"It's okay, Eric. Remember our promise?" Joon states, wiping Eric's tears. 

"You're right. Let me walk you outside." Eric replies, holding onto Joon's hand so the two of them can walk to the parking lot together. 

When they reach the parking lot, they say their goodbyes and hug each other one final time. 

"Who knows, maybe you'll find a guy who is even better than me." Joon says. 

"I doubt it.... I guess I'll see you in a few years."

"See you in a few years." Joon responds, giving Eric one final kiss before going to his dad's car. 

Eric watches the car drive away before turning around to walk home. What a terrible way to start the weekend. 

Halfway there, the tears start to fall. By the time Eric reaches the dorm, he is on the verge of sobbing. Which is exactly what he does when he enters the dorm. 

Eric takes off his shoes and puts his backpack aside before running to the living room while sobbing loudly. He just plops face down onto the floor and starts crying hard into his arm. 

"Oh my gosh. Eric, what's wrong? Did something happen at school?" Jacob inquires, getting up from the couch where he was watching television. 

Eric tries to explain what happened, but Jacob can't understand him through his sobs. 

"Can you calm down for me so that I can understand a little better?"

Eric takes a deep breath before repeating himself. 

"Joon and I broke up because he's moving away for four years tomorrow. I might not ever see him again." Eric explains, before going back to sobbing on the floor. 

"I'm sorry that happened, squishy. Do you need a hug?"

"Yes." Eric answers through sobs. 

Eric holds onto Jacob and does not seem like he will be letting go anytime soon, so Jacob decides that the two of them go to the couch and cuddle instead. On the couch, Eric buries his face in Jacob's sweater and keeps crying. 

"It's alright, squishy. It's okay to be upset, just let it out." Jacob comforts him. 

"It hurts so much." 

"Hyung, what's going on out here?" Sunwoo asks, walking into the living rubbing his eyes since he just got up from a nap. 

"Eric and Joon broke up."

"Oh. I'm sorry about that Eric. Don't worry though, you'll feel better soon." Sunwoo encourages. 

"No I won't. This is the worst thing to happen in my entire life." Eric cries. 

"He still needs a little time." Jacob says, patting Eric's back. 

Eric stays with Jacob on the couch and cries for about an hour and a half until he ends up falling asleep. 

"Hey, Jacob. I'm back from the store." Sangyeon calls out when he enters the dorm. 

He walks over to Jacob and finds him with Eric in the living room. 

"Did Eric fall asleep on you while watching television again?"

"I wish. He and Joon just broke up and he is really heartbroken. He's been crying ever since he got back from school and he cried himself to sleep just now." Jacob explains. 

"My poor maknae." Sangyeon says, stroking Eric's hair. 

"Sangyeon, I'm worried about him. Just look at how he is sleeping."

Sangyeon observes Eric and realizes that he is completely still. 

"You're right, he is so stiff."

"I know. He usually stretches or moves around a bit in his sleep. It might take a while for him to cope with this." Jacob says. 

"However long it takes, we'll be there for our maknae." Sangyeon responds, kissing the top of Eric's head. 

Eric sleeps until dinner, and the only reason he gets up is because Jacob wakes him. 

"Come on, babykins. It's time for dinner. We made your favorites. Noodles and fried chicken." Jacob tells Eric, as he leads him to the kitchen. 

Jacob sits Eric down at the table and places his food in front of him. 

Five minutes go by and Eric does not touch his food at all, he would rather go to his room. 

"Hyung, can I go to bed?" Eric asks. 

"But you haven't touched your dinner, squishy." Haknyeon says. 

"I'm not all that hungry." 

"Can you at least take just one bite? Please?" Sangyeon pleads. 

Eric picks up the chicken and takes a bite. 

"Okay, you can go to bed." Sangyeon replies. 

"I'll come tuck you in, in a second." Jacob says, as Eric gets up. 

As Jacob is tucking Eric in, he sees that his tears are starting to come back. 

"Gummy bear, if you need anything during the night don't be afraid to ask us. Even if you have to wake us up, we'll be there for you." Jacob informs him. 

"Thanks hyung. Good night."

"Good night."

Saturday and Sunday go exactly the same way. Eric spends most of his day crying, and the boys take turns comforting him. 

On Monday morning, when Eric is getting ready for school he doesn't want to eat breakfast, he just drinks some orange juice. 

As Sangyeon and Jacob are walking him to school, they notice how upset he still is. Maybe being at school will bring up memories and make this worse.

"Eric, if you don't want to go to school for a while, you don't have to." Sangyeon says. 

"No, that's alright hyung." 

"We mean it, squishy. If you need to come home, just call us and we'll pick you up." Jacob adds, giving Eric a hug before he walks into school. 

Eric walks into school and goes to his locker. Usually, Joon would hang out with him for a couple minutes before Eric would walk him to class. Now, Eric just walks to class and sits down quietly. The day goes by pretty slowly, but without much issues. However, once Eric has the class that he shared with Joon, all the memories come back to him. 

The time they did a school project together, the time they studied together, passing notes to Joon in class. Being in this room is too painful for him, he wants to break down and cry because he knows that he will never get to experience these things again. Sangyeon and Jacob's offer to stay home seems like a good idea now. 

Eric asks his teacher to go to the nurse because he does not feel well. At the nurse's office, he lies and says that he is sick and needs to go home. Luckily, she believes him and Eric gets picked up about ten minutes later. 

Just like the day before, he lays on the living room floor and cries. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Chanhee asks Eric, sitting down next to him. 

"School was horrible. I went to the class that Joon and I had, then I got flooded with so many memories and it made me sad that I'll never be able to have that again." Eric replies, holding onto his hyung and crying. 

"Eric, how about we go to the arcade? That will take your mind off of things." Younghoon suggests. 

"Joon and I had our first date at the arcade." Eric states, crying even harder now and running to his room. 

"Younghoon!" Changmin angrily whispers, hitting Younghoon.

"I forgot, sorry." 

"What can we do to make him feel better? It hurts seeing our little prince so sad like this." Jaehyun says. 

"I think I know what to do. Jacob, can you pack the fishing gear while I go talk to Eric?" Sangyeon blurts out. 

Jacob nods and Sangyeon goes to convince Eric into coming with him. Once Eric calms down, he agrees to go with Sangyeon to the fishing pond. 

At the pond, Sangyeon and Eric sit on the edge with their lines in the water. It is silent for several minutes until Eric suddenly makes a remark. 

"Hyung, I don't think I will ever find another guy again." 

"Eric, that's not true. You'll find another boyfriend." Sangyeon assures. 

"That's easy for you to say, you're married. You don't know what it's like having a boyfriend and then breaking up with him." Eric responds. 

"What, you think that I have just been married to Jacob my whole life? I had boyfriends and broke up with them when I was your age too." Sangyeon begins. 

"Look, I know it's hard losing your first boyfriend. I remember when it happened to me, I was just as upset as you were, but I eventually felt better. Then, I had some more boyfriends until I finally met Jacob." 

"What I am trying to say is that while it might seem like everything is over and you will never meet someone again, that's just not true. You have plenty of time to meet the one that is right for you." Sangyeon concludes. 

"You really think I can find another guy as great as Joon?" Eric inquires. 

"I know you will. You're such a great guy, boys will be busting down the door to be with you sooner than you think."

Eric smiles in response. 

"Can soon be a little bit from now? I feel much better, but I'm still a little upset and miss Joon." Eric says. 

"Of course it can. You can take as much time as you need before you're ready to start dating again." Sangyeon answers, putting his arm around Eric and bringing him closer. 

"Thanks for taking me out here, hyung. It really made me feel better." 

"I know how you like coming out here when you need to clear your mind, so I was hoping it would still work."

"Well, I do have one more problem. Could you help me with it?" Eric mentions. 

"Anything."

"I'm starving. Will you take me home and make me something to eat?" Eric asks.

"You bet I will. You haven't eaten a proper meal in a couple days, so how about I make you a meal fit for a prince?" 

"As long as I can have ice cream for dessert."

"Of course you can, we'll make an ice cream sundae for you." Sangyeon responds, ruffling Eric's hair as the two of them walk back to the car to drive home. 


End file.
